The Network of Hunters
by anabelsraikou
Summary: An organized group of Pokémon Hunters has eluded the International Police for months, and the count of stolen Pokémon continues to rise. As the options dwindle, can three teenagers without Pokémon of their own crack the case? Rated T for violence, mild language and some adult themes. Loosely part of the manga universe.
1. Chapter 1

_May 14, 2018_

_6:32pm Japan Standard Time_

_East China Sea_

It was a quiet evening in the middle of the East China Sea, waters relatively calm in the pre-summer month of May just before the monsoons. Out in the middle of the ocean just between the ports of Lilycove and Shanghai, the only turbulence on the surface of the water came from a Shenlong KCU105-GEV, an increasingly popular Chinese ground-effect vehicle designed for short-haul freighting across water. As it skimmed across the surface of the water, its four submerged hydrogen-accumulator turbine engines as its only contact with the water, the craft's reverse-delta wings cast an oblong shadow in the receding sunlight.

The crew of 5 was weary from a long day of freighting cargo to and from their home port of Shanghai. At this point they were one hour away from Shanghai before their return to Lilycove, where they would receive more cargo to ship in the morning. There was little energy to go around.

"Hey Xiao"

"Yeah?"

"Got any plans for our 3-hour layover in Shanghai?"

"Beats me, man… maybe hit up a bar, find some cool chicks-"

"Dude. We _all _know you mean hookers. It's cool, we're game"

"Heh. Fair enough"

The relative tranquility was rudely interrupted by an alert on the proximity radar. Suddenly, the crew found themselves in a frenzy trying to assess the situation.

"What the hell is going on!?"

"Looks like we've got bogie coming in hot, Starboard side! 150 knot relative speed and climbing!"

"_Tā māde niǎo_, what is this!? Homing missile?"

"200 knot relative speed! Impact in 10 seconds!"

2 more blips appeared on the radar right behind, followed by another 7.

"_Mā de, mā de_… everybody, brace!"

The side of the craft's hull blasted open with a mighty roar, and chaos ensued as it began to destabilize at 270 knots. Wind whipping past, a blue-haired woman adeptly landed inside, with two other figures flanking her at either side. In front of them stood a Salamence.

"This is the International Police. You're all under arrest and this ship is impounded!"

The 5 men, though shaken, quickly regained their composure and sent out what Pokémon they had on hand to respond to the threat. A Machamp, Rhydon and Haryama were used throughout the day to assist in loading, unloading and rearranging cargo aboard the vessel. Large and physically strong, they were also quite capable of handling themselves in combat.

That is, when facing standard-level threats. Their opponents today were anything but.

No sooner had the three Pokémon appeared from within their balls, than Anabel issued to her Salamence her next command:

"Salamence, dragon rush!" Salamence roared, lowering its neck and wings before propelling itself forward while spinning clockwise. Before the three Pokémon even had a chance to assess the situation, Salamence's left wingtip was hurtling towards the Machamp, cloaked in a blinding purple glow. As it connected with the unfortunate four-armed Pokémon, Salamence's tail whipped viciously around to deftly swipe all three Pokémon to the right.

The two figures behind Anabel, Steven and Cynthia, had meanwhile sent out their own Pokémon: Metagross and Lucario.

"Metagross, zen headbutt!"

"Lucario, aura sphere!"

With Machamp crumpling to the ground, Rhydon and Haryama were still trying to right themselves as Lucario and Metagross's attacks connected; a crimson-brown swirling ball of ki spread cracks along the Rhydon's chest, which subsequently toppled forward, just as Metagross charged into Haryama head-first. The bright pink glow of Metagross's front horn quickly spread across Haryama as it buckled under the strain of the attack before sinking to the ground unconscious.

The fight was over as soon as it began. 7 ace trainers quickly boarded the vessel through the opening, which by this point had stabilized somewhat, and secured the 5 men as Anabel, Cynthia and Steven recalled their Pokémon and made their way to the storage vessel.

Following the layout of the vessel that they had studied, they descended a ladder to the engine room where a small door served as the back entrance to the spacious cargo hold.

"Alright, let's secure the…"

Steven stopped as he took in the vast, open space around them, seemingly devoid of any meaningful cargo.

"Damn, we've been duped!" cursed Cynthia as she angrily stepped forward to take a better look. As soon as she did so, a slight tug on her foot triggers a sequence of beeps and some LEDs to illuminate around them.

"Wait a minute…" said Anabel, taking a closer look at the sides of the cargo hold. The walls, which initially looked empty, were actually lined with what look to be plastic explosives.

"We need to get out of here, now!" she yelled, as the three of them scrambled back up the ladder, not risking an attempt to blast a hole through the explosives for their escape. As soon as they reached the top, Anabel summoned her Salamence to blast another hole in the engine room.

"Salamence, dragon dance!" "Aerodactyl, rock polish!" "Togekiss, extremespeed!"

The three trainers wasted no time mounting their Pokémon and accelerating away from the doomed craft. They had no time to look back as a fireball erupted from underneath, disintegrating the vessel and sending a shockwave echoing through the calm evening air.

_May 15, 2018_

_9:00am Japan Standard Time_

_International Police Special Forces HQ, Sevii Islands, Kanto_

"So let me get this straight" prodded a very irate General Tomori.

Anabel, Cynthia and Steven sat silently in their chairs.

"After literal months of meticulous tracking and espionage carried out by an elite group you yourselves hand-picked, three of the world's most powerful trainers and 7 elite ace trainers set out to intercept a convoy shipping hundreds of stolen and petrified Pokémon to unnamed buyers in Shanghai, and the whole thing turned out to be a trap!?"

"…it appears so, general" answered Anabel.

General Tomori slammed his fist on the desk. "Great. Just great. How the hell do you suppose we explain this in the report? When word gets out that the best the PLA has to offer can't even put a stop to a group of Pokémon hunters, do you have any idea the kind of PR disaster we'll have on our hands!?"

"General, we're doing everything we can! But they always seem to be 2 steps ahead of us!" responded Cynthia. "It's as if they can predict our every move before we make it. This is a level of organized crime the likes of which Japan has never seen!"

"She's right," added Steven. "The obvious conclusion would be that there's a mole somewhere in our team, but this last operation was so classified and carefully vetted that we just don't see who could've leaked it."

"We were so sure we'd get them this time…" said Anabel.

General Tomori grunted. "I don't know what to tell you. I gathered the very best asking for results, and I got none. I can't explain this any more than you can. All I know is we need to put a stop to these hunters, and we need to do it fast. Any ideas?"

After an uncomfortable period of silence, Anabel finally speaks. "Well… all of our strikes so far have been organized by elites from the Pokémon League Association"

"Yes, that tends to be where we get the most powerful and resourceful trainers by far… what's your point?" asked General Tomori quizzically.

"I'm just thinking out loud… trainers from the Pokémon League Association develop their skills in a predictable way. Competitive battling is very well defined."

"I see…" added Cynthia. "If, for argument's sake, someone studied competitive battling in the PLA very closely, they could potentially garner a lot of insight into how most of us plan and think."

"So, what you're saying is we may be dealing with an enemy that _does _in fact predict our every move? That seems like a stretch…" complained Tomori.

"But it's all we've got at the moment," countered Anabel. "Question is, working under this hypothesis, what do we do about it?"

Steven, who had been quietly pondering the whole time, finally chimed in.

"I think… I may have an idea."

_11:00am Japan Standard Time_

_Private Observation Deck, International Police Special Forces HQ_

"You want to do _what_!? demanded Cynthia, baffled, as the three trainers sat in a private room discussing strategies.

"Just hear me out!" pleaded Steven. "I really think this could give us the different approach we need."

"So, let me get this straight," clarified Anabel. "You want to bring in talented, creative young people from across the world with _no _prior experience with Pokémon… to aid us in capturing _Pokémon _hunters… using an elite group of _Pokémon _trainers."

"That's the gist of it." Steven chuckled. "I must say, when you put it like that, it does sound quite foolish."

Anabel let out a sigh as Cynthia rolled her eyes, shaking her head, before responding.

"Steven, I know it's been a frustrating few days, but you understand we need a _real _plan, right? This sounds like something out of a bad movie at best, and completely nonsensical at worst."

"Well, you guys said it yourselves. The Pokémon trainers we have at our disposal aren't all that diverse. They're almost all Japanese and train and think in similar ways when battling. If we want a truly new approach, we need to escape that entirely." countered Steven.

"Alright, let's entertain that for a second," reasoned Anabel. "You raise a good point about strategic and behavioral trends, as well as culture. What if we bring in foreign experts in social psychology, or better yet, just consult members of the General Investigations branch? They're typically more diverse than Special Forces."

Cynthia began to ponder this, nodding her head as she mulled it over, but Steven was already shaking his.

"General Investigations is a definite no. The fact is, Special Forces has become such a powerful tool in dealing with armed, organized threats, that General Investigation has begun to base a lot of their work on how we do ours, since once it starts getting dangerous it typically gets passed on to us anyways. And as for foreign experts, any qualified 'expert' we could find would be equally jaded by the field they work in. If our enemy smart is enough to model and predict our decision making, they probably know all about the established fields of social psychology and military planning. We also have the issue of security to worry about; remember, we don't know who the mastermind is. With students, there's a much smaller chance of any sort of affiliation."

Cynthia and Anabel were deep in thought, but still clearly unconvinced.

"Okay, but why _no_ prior experience with Pokémon?" asked Cynthia.

"Because," responded Steven, "the Pokémon League Association is the world's dominant organization when it comes to Pokémon battling. Just about anyone anywhere with Pokémon of their own is bound to be heavily influenced by our competitive scene. That defeats the purpose."

Cynthia appeared about to offer a counter argument but paused to reconsider. Steven knew how far-fetched this whole scheme was and seeing the clear uneasiness of his comrades decided to appeal to an age-old sentiment of the Pokémon League.

"Look. Whenever we run up against a wall and can't seem to find a solution, in just about any field you can think of, where are we most likely to find the new thinking and ideas that move us forward? The youth. Just look at you two; you got to where you are today by demonstrating innovative skills from a young age that nothing previously established could account for. _That's _what we need right now. When faced with an enemy who can seemingly account for everything, we can only turn to what nobody dead or alive could ever account for: the brilliant and raw thinking of the great minds of tomorrow! Come on guys, what do you say?"

Steven had barely noticed that he had risen from his seat and was now standing in the middle of the room, pulse racing. He hadn't expected to get quite so worked up about this, but it clearly had an impression on Cynthia and Anabel. After a silence that felt like forever, Cynthia began to chuckle.

"Good grief… is this really our plan then?" She glanced over at Anabel, then back at Steven, her face a mix of fatigue, disbelief, and yet just a glimmer of hope.

Steven smiled, indulging himself in a morsel of that hope as he turned to Anabel, who had also risen from her seat.

"Well then, no point mulling about over here," she determined. "Where should we start?"

_A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first shot at writing a story, so any constructive criticism would be appreciated. I'm planning for this story to have about 16 or so chapters, and if all goes well it may be the first of many with the same characters. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

_May 22, 2018_

_3:28pm Japan Standard Time_

_Seoul, South Korea_

A vibrant city of commerce, culture and technology, Cynthia found that Seoul was not so different from the Jubilife City she had come to know so well. The main difference, of course, was Pokémon; there were perhaps a few here and there, but nowhere near as commonplace as just about anywhere in mainland Japan. As a result, the youth of the city tended to be more driven towards academic and technological disciplines.

Nowhere was this more apparent than Seoul's School of Science and Engineering.

"Our students, from ages 15 to 18, are some of the best and brightest in all of Seoul, Champion Cynthia" explained Principal Min Seok Hong as they passed through the atrium. "At the SSE, we believe in a broad yet intensive education in mathematics, the sciences, humanities, and art. Our graduates will go on to elite universities across the world."

Cynthia nodded pensively. "Very impressive, Principal Hong. Thank you once again for taking the trouble to give me a personal tour of your institution, and for such a quick turnaround. I can only imagine how stressful it must have been for the students."

Principal Hong smiled warmly. "But of course, Champion Cynthia. It's truly an honor to have been selected by the International Police for this project."

Despite being assured by Steven how desirable their offer was, Cynthia still found herself surprised at the eagerness of busy high school students to take time out of their work to apply for this. Clearly, an all-expenses-paid excursion to Japan to gain work experience with the International Police was nothing to scoff at.

Hong glanced at his watch, then back at Cynthia. "Now, if you'll follow me, the students you selected are waiting in the next room."

###

_3:45pm Japan Standard Time_

_School of Science and Engineering, Seoul, South Korea_

Cynthia entered the classroom to be faced with 10 students whose applications she and the other champions had deemed interesting. Finally putting faces to the names, she found herself slightly underwhelmed. Shifting nervously in their chairs, they appeared at first glance to be meek and awkward. Cynthia let out an imperceptible sigh. Hopefully this would have little bearing on the rest of the afternoon. She put her scarf down on the table.

"Alright everyone," began Cynthia. "You're here because your applications demonstrated the qualities we're looking for in a member of our new investigations team within the International Police, bearing in mind the time constraints you had in completing the application". Cynthia smiled. "Congratulations to all of you."

The students hastily nodded and forced smiles in affirmation. Oh, boy.

"By the end of the day, one of you will become a member of this new division. I'd like to begin with a puzzle that the 10 of you will solve as a group. You will be left to work on it in this room, and you'll notify me when you've arrived at a solution. Afterwards, I'll conduct one-on-one interviews with each of you, during which you'll debrief me on your contributions to solving the puzzle. Any questions?"

Silence.

"…alright. Let me explain the puzzle. Consider a 2-dimensional map of 1000 randomly spaced points. Given one of these as a starting point, consider you need to compute as short a path as possible that takes you through all 1000 points and back to the starting point. Your task is to design an algorithm comparing no more than around 1 to 10 million distances between points that finds as short a path as possible- though not necessarily the shortest. You will have 15 minutes, and your time will start as soon as I leave the room."

3 hands immediately shot up.

"No questions. Good luck," said Cynthia as she walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.

"What was that!? I'm so confused!" said one student.

"Well, it seems like those instructions are all we've got."

"So, from what I understood… 1000 random points, and we need the shortest path through all of them?"

"No, no, we need an algorithm to generate that path."

"So, where do we start?"

"Well… 1 million is 1000 squared."

"That means we can do something with all of the points for each of the other points… if that makes sense."

"Umm… sort of, I guess…"

Cynthia settled down in the waiting room nearby with an earpiece in her ear and her phone giving her a live video feed from the room. She smirked as she began to take notes.

One student, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. "So why don't we go through each point sequentially, adding the nearest unadded point to the path each time until we have them all?"

Silence for a moment as they considered it.

"Yeah, that makes sense I guess."

Another student wasn't sure. "But near the end… if there are, like, a cluster of points not very close to the others, couldn't it possibly just go further and further away before going all the way back inefficiently?"

"Wait, I don't get it. Why would it go further away if it's adding the nearest point each time?"

"I think I get it. Say we have a point here whose closest neighbor is the starting point. But the neighbor itself has much closer points to it on the other side. It could go all the way down that way before eventually coming back all the way."

Some nods and pensive looks.

"Well, maybe that's a special case… can we account for that?"

"I don't think so… how can you accurately define that case?"

They all continued to mull over the problem before the one who originally brought up the problem spoke again.

"What if we're thinking about this all wrong? Maybe it's something like… not which point you insert, but where you insert it."

"What do you mean? You just insert it at the end of the tour. How else would you do it?"

"Wait, wait, I think I got it!" said another student. "Instead of just inserting it at the end, maybe we just find the closest point already _in _the path to a given point and sort of… put it in the middle of the path?"

"That sounds great! But then what is that given point each time?"

They thought over this for another minute, before the student answered:

"Actually, I don't think it matters. Given a starting point, we can add the others to the path in any order we want, right?"

"What? How would that… ohhh, I guess it would just work."

By this point, the students had less than 2 minutes left.

"Alright, we're running out of time. Let's go over our algorithm one more time."

"So… we start with the beginning point, and each time we add a point, we search the current path for the closest point and add it in there, reconnecting the path."

"More formally, then, say we're adding point x. We search the current path for nearest point y and add x after y, and then add point z that was originally after y… after x. We keep adding points until all 1000 have been added."

"That sounds right to me!"

"Who's presenting it to Champion Cynthia, then?"

"Given that you came up with it, maybe you should."

The others nodded, some less enthusiastically than others.

The door opened. "Time's up!" said Cynthia, as she returned to the head of the room. "What do you have for me?"

The elected student stood up and explained the algorithm they came up with. Cynthia nodded.

"Very good. Moving right along, we'll begin the interviews". Cynthia gestured to the student who had just explained the algorithm. "I'll start with you. Everyone else, wait here and I'll call you up"

The two left the room and walk down the hall to a smaller study room. They sat down across from each other.

"So… Cecelia Kim. You were the one presenting the algorithm. Is that because you were the one to piece it together at the end?"

Cecelia smiled. "Well, Champion Cynthia, I pretty much figured it out and explained to the others why it would work."

"I see. And what about the others? Who else made some important observations along the way?"

She thought for a moment. "Umm… well, to be honest, they were mostly just asking questions and pointing out issues. I guess Dong Bin was the one to suggest a solution at the start, but it wasn't very good, and we had to rework it entirely."

Cynthia nodded and took some notes. The rest of the interview was pleasant, while Cecelia missed no opportunity to bring up her numerous accolades throughout middle and high school. Arguably the most accomplished of the 10, she was one wicked smart girl. Clearly a top contender.

Eventually, she got around to Kevin Park.

"So, Kevin, what was your contribution to the solution?"

Kevin sighed. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't able to come up with much in the way of solutions."

"Okay, but that doesn't mean you did nothing, does it?"

"I did my best to help us along the right track. At one point, we thought we had a pretty good solution from Dong Bin, but I brought up some issues with it. Later, as we were brainstorming, I said it could be that we were thinking about the whole thing wrong, and then Cecelia had her breakthrough."

Cynthia smiled. "Sounds like a bit more than nothing to me."

Cynthia thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the interview. Here was a charming, charismatic boy who was clearly very accomplished, even boasting a national placement in judo- certainly not irrelevant.

That led her to Dong Bin Jeong.

"Well, I sort of mulled it over as the others were talking and came up with an idea pretty early on that seemed like it would work. We thought it over for a bit until Kevin pointed out a serious problem with it. After that, I didn't really have any breakthroughs, but I tried to support the others until Cecelia came up with the winner."

Cynthia nodded. Honest and direct. Befitting of the one who suggested Cecelia present the final idea.

"But… I guess you already knew all of that, didn't you?"

Cynthia cocked an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

Dong Bin smiled. "You left the room, but you never said you wouldn't be listening. The scarf you left behind had some kind of camera, didn't it?"

Oho, this was unexpected. Cynthia pressed on: "And how do you come to that conclusion? You didn't even leave your-"

_Shit._

Dong Bin smirked. "Didn't leave my desk? Ignoring that for a moment, I didn't really need to. A scarf makes no sense this time of year, which means you would only be wearing it for one of two reasons: either it's a special item to you, or it was hiding a bug. If it was all that special to you, you wouldn't have just left it sitting around on the table. Which means-"

Cynthia chuckled. "Well I'll be damned. You got me. Well done."

On paper, Dong Bin looked much like the others; certainly impressive, but nothing particularly stood out. In person however, he revealed himself to be witty and incredibly sharp, if not a little awkward at times. This job was getting a lot more interesting.

Back in the classroom, with the interviews finished, it was time to announce the top three.

"You've all worked very hard and demonstrated incredible talent to be here. You should all be very proud of yourselves. That said, it's time to announce the top three. Those will be: Dong Bin, Cecelia, and Kevin. As for the rest of you, that will be all. I hope this has been a good experience for you, and I'd like to say once again what an excellent job you've all done"

The seven students slowly filed out of the room, each one thanking Cynthia for the gracious opportunity. What polite children. Finally, only the three remained.

Cecelia looked poised and confident, Dong Bin was hopping slightly on the spot (from… excitement, presumably?), and Kevin looked genuinely dazed yet proud.

Cynthia smirked dauntingly. Finally, things were about to get interesting. "Alright, you three. I won't waste much time rambling on. The last test is as follows…"

Cynthia reached towards her belt, pulled out a Poké Ball, and threw it just in front of her. Out came a Lucario standing face to face with 3 perplexed students.

Cynthia raised her hand… "Survive!" …and the second she lowered it, Lucario charged towards them.

###

"What the hell!?" wailed Cecelia as she scrambled to find cover.

"Stand back, guys, I've got him!" proclaimed Dong Bin as he faced off the oncoming Pokémon and tried to go for a grab- too slow. Lucario easily evaded, pivoting around to face his back as he launched a quick jab to the back of his neck. As a puff of air audibly escaped from his chest, Dong Bin slumped to the floor.

Wasting no time, Lucario turned to advance towards Kevin. Thinking quickly, he toppled a nearby desk into the Pokémon's path, but it simply responded by kicking it towards Kevin, knocking him down as well. Lucario then jumped towards the desk Cecelia was hiding under.

A varsity track athlete, Cecelia was fairly quick on her feet, but she was no martial artist. It was all she could do to keep scrambling from nook to cranny as Lucario sent desks flying across the room. Kevin, meanwhile, had gotten up and was now watching Lucario's assault.

"Hmmm…"

Cecelia was now thoroughly out of breath and had nowhere left to hide. As Lucario picked up speed and closed in, she held out her hands and closed her eyes… and opened them again to find Kevin standing in front of her taking up a defensive stance, face to face with Lucario!

"Cecelia, take cover!"

Taking support from the ground and expertly pulling his body back like a spring, Kevin shoved Lucario back with all his might. Just as he suspected, Lucario was a lot heavier than he looked. Unphased, he was quickly on his feet again and began to advance towards Kevin.

"Wait for it…"

Lucario paused for a fraction of a moment to move his left leg further back. There it was! Kevin readied himself as Lucario dashed towards him at breakneck speed. The Pokémon quickly found his arms in Kevin's clutches as he used his full body and Lucario's momentum to hurl him into the wall.

In the split second before Lucario crashed into the wall, denting it inwards with an impressive thud, Kevin could see the Pokémon's eyes widen in surprise. He slumped from the wall to the floor but managed with some effort to regain his footing.

Seeing this, Kevin readied himself once again, and was surprised to see that Lucario didn't advance. From across the room, Cynthia began to clap. "That was very impressive, Kevin!"

Cecelia slowly stood up from the corner of the room, still visibly quite shaken up, and let out a yelp as she saw Dong Bin's unmoving body on the floor. She started to panic. "Oh god, oh god, is he…?"

In response, Cynthia calmly walked over, crouched down, and pressed a certain spot on his neck. Dong Bin awoke with a gasp, scrambling back on his feet.

"Did I get him? Where's…" Dong Bin looked around, taking stock of his surroundings. "Aw man. Did I just make an ass of myself?"

Cynthia chuckled. "You were out cold for a bit. Lucario got one of your pressure points; an instant knockout, but no long-term consequences." She then turned to her Pokémon.

"Lucario, return." A red laser shot from the Poké Ball towards Lucario as he returned from whence he came, before turning back to Kevin, still panting from the throw. "I must ask, what made you confront Lucario head on? Was it a sudden burst of bravery? Recklessness, perhaps? Or…?"

Kevin laughed. "Both were certainly involved. But what really got me was how despite Lucario's size, the desks still creaked under his weight as he jumped across them. That, combined with his explosive speed, should have made his punches deadly… but they didn't even break through the wood of the desks. Lucario was going easy. You wouldn't really have him go all out on a few high schoolers."

"Yup, you got me there," replied Cynthia. "It would have been quite a bit of paperwork had one of you died."

Kevin shuddered. "…anyway, then I noticed how he moved his left leg back before dashing at full speed and I managed to time a judo throw."

"Well Kevin, I guess that settles it. You've demonstrated profound observational skill and bravery. You'll be a perfect member of our new team!"

Kevin's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, really? This is incredible… I really did it!"

"Remember, though… the hard work is yet to come." replied Cynthia.

Suddenly, Principal Hong burst into the room. "I heard a great deal of commotion! Is everyone…"

His eyes scanned the room- desks scattered, scuff marks all across the floor, and a massive crack in the wall. "Good heavens! Champion Cynthia, I must protest! The state of this room is-"

"Please, Principal," Cynthia cut him off. "This was a necessary part of the testing. None of the students were seriously hurt, I made sure of that. As for the room…" Cynthia reached into her purse. "Please consider this our thanks for your involvement in the program, and as compensation."

She handed Principal Hong a cheque for 100 million Won. "Goodness Gracious me!" exclaimed Hong. "Thank you ever so much, Champion Cynthia!"

"Additionally, I'd like to introduce to you the first member of the new Investigations team- Kevin Park!" she smiled as she gestured to a still-glowing Kevin.

"Oh Kevin, congratulations!" beamed the Principal. "Your parents are going to be ever so proud of you!"

Kevin bowed his head. "Thank you, Principal."

Cynthia turned to Cecelia and Dong Bin, who by now were standing to the side. "You two did very well. Cecelia, lasting as long as you did was no small feat. Just remember to always appreciate the work of others. However brilliant one person may be, they're never a substitute for a cohesive team. And Dong Bin, you're very sharp, and facing a Pokémon like Lucario head-on was undeniably brave. But try not to act on impulse too much- give yourself a moment to develop an idea before acting on it."

The two nodded their heads.

Cecelia's eyes met Cynthia's. "Thank you, Champion Cynthia. I really did learn a lot today. I'll be better."

Cynthia smiled warmly. "Good. You must always strive to be the best version of yourself, because in doing so you can accomplish almost anything you set your mind to. The world needs more strong women like you."

Dong Bin, somehow, seemed full of energy. "That was so cool though! Your Lucario was all like, blam, blam, blam, and I was on the ground! Most epic 5 seconds of my life!"

Cynthia chuckled. "Pokémon sure are amazing, huh? Keep this with you, Dong Bin. When you feel passion for something, follow through, and you'll find that your efforts reward you."

The two left, still reveling in the day's experiences.

"Now then," Cynthia turned to Kevin. "Shall we take our leave?"

###

_A/N: So, there's the first member of this rag-tag group of teenagers. Next we'll see what Anabel and Steven are up to… and where in the world they are. I tried to balance this chapter with the logic puzzle and the fight with Lucario, because ultimately this is still a Pokémon story. Feel free to drop a review and let me know what you think!_


	3. Chapter 3

_May 22, 2018_

_1:07pm Indian Standard Time_

_Mumbai, India_

A seasoned member of the International Police, Anabel had done her fair share of travelling and often found herself in places very different from those she was used to. None, however, were quite like the city of Mumbai. With over 22 million people living in everything from high-rise buildings to slums and flooding the streets with cars, bikes, bullock carts and pedestrians, calling the city noisy and chaotic would do little to put it into perspective for someone from rural Japan. And yet, through it all, Anabel could still feel a profound spirit of innovation, enterprise and, well… life.

But… that didn't make walking the streets towards the International School of Mumbai any less unpleasant. Though, at least she had time to read Cynthia's report.

"Kevin Park, huh? Interesting kid… excellent fighter, keen observational skills, great team player." murmured Anabel as she scrolled through on her phone. "Well… let's see who I can find."

"Welcome, welcome!" said an American man as she entered the school grounds. "Maiden Anabel, I presume? I'm Principal John Craigson, pleasure to meet you". "Likewise," replied Anabel as they shook hands.

"I take it your journey here was relatively smooth?" inquired Craigson.

"Ah, it was perfectly fine," replied Anabel. "I just walked here from East Bandra where I landed."

The Principal looked shocked. "Oh my gosh, you walked here?" Oh, _that's _what he was shocked about. "That takes guts. This isn't much of a walking city, and in some parts of the city that can be dangerous"

Anabel shrugged. "Well, I am a police officer with… considerable force at my disposal."

Craigson laughed. "I suppose that's true. Now please, come in!"

* * *

_1:45pm Indian Standard Time_

_International School of Mumbai, Mumbai, India_

"So, that's basically ISM at a glance," explained Craigson as they left the Multi-Purpose Hall to head upstairs. "We're a relatively new school in the grand scheme of things, but we're arguably one of the most rigorous, with an International Diploma system and a worldly program while still being responsible citizens of our home city. As we say: Indian at heart, global in spirit."

"Well, everything does seem quite lovely," said Anabel. "I do have to ask; your school is clearly in a very privileged position. How do you consolidate that with the poverty all around you?"

Craigson smiled. "We believe very strongly in encouraging our students to better the lives of others. Engaging with the community is part of our high school curriculum, and every student leaves here with that spirit of community service."

Anabel nodded. A reasonable enough answer.

They stopped at a classroom on the second floor. "Well then, the students are in there. I suppose I'll leave you to it?" asked Craigson. Anabel nodded. "Thank you very much for the tour, Principal Craigson."

"Well it was my pleasure, Maiden Anabel," replied Craigson. "I'll be upstairs if you need me." With that, he left.

###

Anabel took one last look at the 10 students in the small room, ranging from steely-eyed determination to shiftiness to stoic and impenetrable.

"Are there any questions regarding your collective task?" she asked. Surprisingly, there were none. These students looked ready, and they had a lot to prove. "Alright then. I'll be outside if you have any clarifying questions. Your 15 minutes starts now." And with that, she left the room, with her jacket (and a pinhole camera) still draped over a chair at the front.

To kick if off, one of the students spoke up: "Alright, I think it's pretty clear this is an algorithms problem. Frankly, given that Rohan, Kunaal and I are the only ones who formally take CS I think we should lead here."

Another student shook her head. "Oh, screw you Nitya. You really think the only way to solve in algorithms problem is to be a computer freak? I knew you were self-centered, but this takes the cake."

The atmosphere was already getting tense. Rohan stepped in. "Guys, cool it. Kaavya, no one is saying that. She's just saying that since we explicitly study these sorts of problems in class it might be a good idea for one of us to lead in how we approach the problem. Kunaal, how about you kick it off?"

"Uh… sure. So we need to solve this problem of connecting up points in quadratic time or better."

"Wait, what do you mean? How did you get that?" one student asked. Nitya chuckled and Rohan, in response, glared at her.

"1000 squared is a million, right? So, performing 1 to 10 calculations for each iteration of the algorithm, where the number of iterations is 1000 squared would give 1 to 10 million calculations overall," replied Kunaal.

"Well hang on, couldn't you conceivably have just 1000 or 10000 iterations and many more calculations per iteration?"

"You wanna design an algorithm with thousands of calculations per iteration in 15 minutes? Be my guest," interjected Nitya.

"…fair."

"Guys, we have to keep moving, we only have 12 and a half minutes left," said Rohan.

"If it's quadratic time, we're looking at a situation where the distance between each point and each other point is iteratively computed," observed Nitya. "Does that make sense, or do I need to explain that too?"

Everyone grunted in approval.

Someone spoke up. "But where do we actually start? And how do we get each subsequent point to do those operations with?"

Nitya rolled her eyes, but it was Kunaal who spoke up:

"Yeah, it actually… shouldn't matter. The most elegant algorithm probably just iteratively builds a path by adding points from the set one after another in any order. It matters more _where _each point is inserted each time."

Everyone took a moment to mull over this.

"Okay, so if we start with a random point, the next point has to be connected directly to the first, right?"

"That sounds right, I mean there's no other option."

"And then the next point could be connected to the first or the second."

"Or between the first and the second."

"Between? …Oh, I see what you mean. That's a more complicated case, isn't it?"

Nitya chuckled. "It's really not that complicated if you keep track of what went where and stitch it back up."

"So, I guess we just choose the point in the path that's closest to the point we're adding, and stick it… crap, is it before or after?" posed Kaavya.

"I think either would work, we just need to be consistent. Let's say after," said Kunaal.

"…okay. So, we insert it just after the point to which it is closest and stitch up the path, as Nitya said, unless it's the point at the end. Does that work?"

As everyone began nodding in approval, Anabel, watching from the pinhole camera, smiled. Despite the rocky start, they managed to zero in on a solution just 8 minutes in. Expecting them to be wrapping up shortly, she was surprised when Rohan interjected:

"…hang on, I think we can do better."

Nitya sighed. "Do you think anyone here cares? This is clearly the solution she wanted us to find."

Kunaal chimed in: "Look Rohan, I'm sure your right, but in 15 minutes I don't think we're expected to come up with something more advanced. We found a solution. Let's be practical here."

"I know, I know, but hear me out for a second. I think I've got something," said Rohan. The others hesitantly complied. "Adding the nearest point each time intuitively makes sense, but to get the shortest overall _path_, maybe we should instead be inserting the point wherever it results in the smallest increase in the overall path length. It's not necessarily the same thing as the nearest single point."

Anabel was floored. Not only did they get to the anticipated solution very quickly, they were also able to figure out the optimized solution. This was certainly unexpected.

"Guys, he's totally right!" exclaimed Kaavya. "It's not necessarily the same thing. It would take a few more calculations, but would still be well under 10 million overall and would give a shorter path in most cases."

"Wow. Yeah. I'm sorry I doubted you, dude, that's awesome," said Kunaal. Nitya just gritted her teeth and said nothing.

"Okay, so each iteration," said Kaavya, thinking it through out loud, "we need to get the distance between the point we're adding and the point in consideration, add it to the distance between the point we're adding and the point after the point in consideration, and subtract the distance between the point in consideration and its original next point."

Rohan nodded approvingly. Kunaal continued: "Great. So then for each point we add, we keep a running minimum of what you just described, and once we reach the end of the path we insert where that minimum was, stitching as necessary, and then keep doing that until there are no more points to add."

"That sounds like it to me," said Rohan. The others all nodded in approval. "Alright, Kunaal, since you were in charge do you wanna go ahead and present that?"

"Are you sure? You basically came up with it," said Kunaal.

"But I didn't formalize it and I didn't lead the group. You do it." Kunaal smiled and nodded.

Eventually, then, Anabel returned to hear their solution as presented by Kunaal and was needless to say very pleased. "Well done everyone." She paused for a moment but decided not to tell them that this was a better solution than she expected. Best to keep them on their toes. "Now then, we'll get started with the interviews. Kunaal, you'll be first. Please come with me outside."

As they sat down across from each other outside, Anabel asked, "As the one who presented, did you come up with the final solution, or were you the leader of sorts, or both?"

"Well…" replied Kunaal, "I wasn't the one who came up with that solution. That was Rohan. I actually told him that he should present, but he insisted that I present, since he sort of put me in charge at the start."

"He put you in charge?" asked Anabel. Intriguing that he would choose to frame it as such. "Do you feel that you were in charge? Were you a leader?"

Kunaal sighed, and then smiled. "Wow, I'm really blowing my chances here, aren't I? I was technically in charge. But really, Rohan kept us moving forward. He typically doesn't see himself as a leader, but I think he really is the smartest of us all."

"Such glowing praise for your competition," observed Anabel. "I have to say this is quite unexpected. Where is this coming from, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Rohan and I have been friends for a long time, and even though I'm the one in leadership positions in my activities outside of class, he's always been a step ahead of me. Of course, I was resentful towards him for some time, but the fact that it never destroyed our friendship really says something about him, I think. He's the one who constantly pushes me to grow, to always keep thinking and asking and analyzing…"

Anabel smiled. "And, tell me how you've grown. Something tells me you're a little more impressive than you're giving yourself credit for."

And he was. Leadership positions in community service, model united nations, and a competitive robotics team made him arguably the most impressive on paper. Despite this Kunaal Gosh was humble, almost detrimentally so (but not quite), and driven to self-improvement. He was not a natural leader, but one who learned to be one out of necessity by being among the most qualified, and probably also to satisfy very demanding parents.

Next was Nitya Mohan who, for lack of better phrasing, was simply unbearable. Pompous, callous, and entitled, it was clear that she could not play well with others. On paper she was quite impressive, but not impressive enough to justify her treatment of others and inability to collaborate.

That led her to the other combative one; Kaavya Pal.

"So Nitya tells me you were…erm, somewhat disrespectful towards her," prodded Anabel.

"I was. And as Rohan pointed out it was probably uncalled for. I lashed out because I felt somewhat attacked."

Reasonable, level-headed, reflective. This girl was clearly a far cry from Nitya. "Please, elaborate."

"She immediately said that one of the CS students should take charge, since the problem seemed to be in that vein, and I interpreted that as her valuing herself and her subject more than the rest of us."

"And that made you angry?"

"It did. And maybe I was reading too much into it, but I've always felt that my focus on pure rather than applied Math, like physics, computer science and the like, makes me more frivolous and less practically useful in the eyes of some. And I'm sure some of my peers can empathize."

Anabel nodded. It made sense. "You feel you have something to prove… you've been underestimated in the past, haven't you?"

Kaavya simply hung her head and nodded. This was clearly a difficult topic for her. It wasn't just the pure Math; her socioeconomic background was not the same as Nitya's, to say the least. And in India that could still be a big deal in terms of social status and respect.

Anabel took her hand. "Me too. But I just kept telling myself that one day I'd rise up high enough that their sticks and stones would never reach me."

Kaavya smiled. "And here you are."

Anabel smiled back. "Yes, here I am. You're made of the same stuff, you know. I can tell."

"You think so? I hope so…"

"I know so."

The rest of the conversation revealed a plucky, driven go-getter who wasn't about to let anything get in her way. She was on a mission, not just for herself but to honor those that believed in her and spite those that didn't. The fire in her was impossible to ignore.

Eventually she made her way to Rohan Advani. This was one extremely sharp boy, as she had seen, albeit also quite privileged.

"So, Rohan… Kunaal speaks very highly of you."

Rohan put his head in his hand. "Oh, did he seriously? Why doesn't he ever think about himself a little? Well, I suppose Kunaal has never been that kind of guy. Always selfless and humble."

Anabel laughed. "You two are clearly big influences on each other."

"I would say so. Kunaal is my best friend. Sometimes- often, rather- I feel like I don't deserve him, but then at the same time I don't know what I'd do without him. I don't have all that many close friends, you see, and maybe that's my fault… sometimes I just forget to socialize and be a normal kid. He doesn't, and that's invaluable for me."

Anabel nodded pensively.

"But that's not to say I'm necessarily a good-with-numbers, bad-with-people sort of guy. Well… maybe I am, but I don't think of myself that way."

"So… you feel you are that, and yet you don't think of yourself that way? How does that work?" prodded Anabel.

Rohan sighed. "I'm not explaining myself very well… Often I feel that I create the perception that I am that way. When people see me and briefly interact with or work with me, I bet that's the kind of person they think I am. And maybe that is the way I am. But… that's not all that I _want _to be."

Rohan paused for a moment, forming his thoughts, before continuing: "I want to prove, to myself as well as to others, that I have drive and courage. That I can and will take all my skills and knowledge, and put them towards something good, something that makes a difference. Not because I'm some super-geek who only lives for puzzles and intellectual stimuli, but because… because I think I can be more than that. I guess that's really the reason I signed up for this."

As Anabel patiently listened to all of this, she gleaned a much better understanding of the boy than she ever could reading through his glowing transcript, researching his successful family or even watching him solve a complex problem as quickly as he did. Because all of that simply pointed to a brilliant, privileged kid who sat on top of the world with a clear, successful path forward. And yet, he still had something to prove, and Anabel could tell that he would see that through with drive uncommon for someone in his position. There was just one more thing Anabel needed to know…

"Thank you for all of that, it really told me a lot. I would like to ask you about something that may be a little uncomfortable, so forgive me. You've arguably led a very privileged life; do you feel that has any bearing on what role you should or will play in life?"

Rohan took a moment to think about this before responding. "Yeah, I think it would be wrong to say it doesn't." Anabel cocked an eyebrow, intrigued. "There's no doubt about it that I'm very, very lucky to be where I am. And I think that naturally gives me a great deal of responsibility to do good. So, I hope that whatever I end up doing later in life, I can make people's lives better through it. But that's also why people like Kaavya are really superstars in my book. She's able to do so much despite all the challenges she deals with that I just never had to. It really should be a more level playing field."

Having come from a similar background to Kaavya's herself, Anabel had mixed feelings about this response. He was definitely at least conscious of his privilege, and while he clearly meant well with his sentiment, Anabel found it all a touch patronizing and overbearing. He was ideological, but somewhat out of touch. Still, it could certainly have been worse.

With the last of the interviews completed, Anabel returned to the classroom to face the 10 students, each of whom proved to be interesting and unique. And yet, all the same, she had a clear idea of which three she wanted to see more of.

"I'd like to thank you all very much for sharing with me your time and unique skills and talents. You've all been remarkable to work with, and once again, congratulations to all of you for making that far. But unfortunately, I have to narrow the pool down to a top three."

The students tensed up in anticipation.

"Kaavya, Rohan and Kunaal, congratulations." Each of the three perked up and beamed upon hearing their names. Anabel smiled warmly. "As for the rest of you, that will be all. Needless to say, your names are in our roster and we'll be very interested to see what you do next. Hopefully, I will be seeing some of you soon." While initially disappointed, that last bit clearly brought smiles back to the faces of the seven students. They each thanked Anabel as they made their ways out of the room, leaving Anabel with her top three.

All good friends with one another, Anabel watched as they chattered excitedly and wished each other good luck before turning to face her in eager anticipation.

At that, Anabel produced from her jacket three small, luminescent, gelatinous spheres with a multicolored gas inside. She handed them to the three perplexed students, who began to roll them around in their hands and examine them curiously before turning back to Anabel.

"How much do you three know about ghost-type Pokémon?" As they scratched their heads, turned to each other and visibly racked their brains, Anabel remembered that here in India, unless you were a biologist or materials scientist, you typically wouldn't know much about Pokémon at all, let alone the enigmatic ghost-types.

"Let me explain, then. A ghost-type Pokémon is very different from other Pokémon in that the center of its being, which would the brain for non-ghost Pokémon as well as humans, can be continually shifted throughout the volume of its visible body. This 'body' is actually made of ionized gases that clump together and give it shape and color. For example,"

Anabel unclipped a Poké Ball from her belt and dropped it to the ground, and a dark purple witch-like figure appeared in front of them, letting out a menacing shriek. The three were taken aback by this strange and unusual creature, unable to pull their eyes away.

"This is a Mismagius. Its body is comprised mainly of carbon monoxide, nitrogen and argon gas." In demonstration, she passed her hand right through the Pokémon's body and out the other side as Mismagius stood unphased and visibly undamaged. The three gasped as she did.

"But the center of its being, the part that actually _is _Mismagius and not just a clump of inert gases, is different." With that, she produced from her pocket a fourth gelatinous ball and tossed it into Mismagius' body. The three watched in awe as it disintegrated, and the luminescent gas permeated through the Pokémon. As it dispersed, they saw that it lingered in one region of the Pokémon's body that looked to be in its gaseous head, but quickly zipped all around its body seemingly at random.

"_That _is the only substantive part of Mismagius. It's effectively its brain and controls the gas around it. And more importantly, for your purposes…" Suddenly she jabbed her hand into the Pokémon and grabbed the glowing core as it let out a muffled wail. The three jumped back in surprise and trepidation. "…you can actually touch it." She released the core as the glow started to fade, rendering it invisible once more.

"As I'm sure you've figured out by now, the spheres you're holding can make the core visible for a short period of time. And as I've just demonstrated, grabbing or striking the core is the only way for you to actually fight Mismagius without elemental attacks, which you don't have."

As soon as she said the word 'fight', she could see the color drain from their faces as they glanced nervously at each other. She laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to bring down Mismagius. All you need to do is grab the core, as I just did. Simple, right?"

At this, they relaxed somewhat, and began to bombard Anabel with questions.

"How does the core float like that?"

"Does the membrane around the ball dissolve in contact with argon, or carbon monoxide?"

"How does the gas permeate through the entire body?"

"What's the core made of, and how does the gas stick to it?"

Anabel held up her hands. "Slow down, slow down!" They were, after all, some of the brightest and most intellectually curious kids in the city, so this was to be expected. "You can look those up later, but for now that's all you really need to know. When I say 'go', work together to grab the core. Of course, you'll also be on a timer."

The three students nodded their heads in understanding and anticipation, beginning to stretch their legs and fiddle with their watches.

Anabel smirked. "Oh, you misunderstand me. Not that kind of timer." They all looked up in confusion as Anabel produced what looked like earbuds from her jacket pocket, put them in her ears and pressed a button on one of them. Blue rings illuminated on each of them as she turned to her Mismagius: "Perish Song."

The gaseous creature's 'face' took on a haunting form as it began to emit a piercing, dissonant melody. The three students, taken entirely by surprise, tried to cover their ears and block out the noise, but to no avail. As the unearthly noises filled their ears, their vision began to blur and they each felt a strange presence in their minds. They glanced at each other, then Anabel, wide-eyed and panicking.

As the noise came to a stop, Anabel removed her earbuds. "You've probably got between three to five minutes before you black out, depending on your constitution. Try to grab the core before that happens."

Still panting heavily from the mental assault, their senses were still returning to them as Anabel said: "Go."

* * *

Just as the three of them were about to advance, Mismagius seemingly disappeared as its gases dispersed about the room. They quickly huddled together facing outward in a defensive formation, pulses racing.

Kunaal was the first to speak. "Holy crap, where did it just go!?"

"It looks like… everywhere," replied Kaavya.

Rohan looked around frantically. "Question is, where's the core?"

As he did, he saw a clump of purple gas form in the corner of the room and just as it did, he thought he saw the reflection of a small, transparent object.

"Guys, I think that's it!" By the time the others turned their heads in the direction he was pointing, the gas had already dispersed. "Dammit," muttered Rohan, before adding: "Well, it looked totally transparent. I just caught a glimpse of it, I think."

"Then we'll never find it when Mismagius is dispersed like this," observed Kunaal. "We'll have to wait until it reforms, but… will it?"

Just then, Kaavya noticed yet another small clump of purple gas materialize and then disperse, closer to them this time. "Guys, I think it just might," said Kaavya, a slight quiver to her voice.

Within a fraction of a second, the gas rematerialized and hurtled towards Rohan, sending him flying out of formation as a strange energy enveloped him and his vision temporarily blurred. He cried out as Kaavya and Kunaal, startled, fumbles for their spheres. Without a moment's pause, Mismagius' 'eyes' glowed a piercing red as Rohan, who had not yet regained his footing, felt a binding energy around his arms. Just as Kaavya threw her sphere towards the Pokémon, it dispersed, sending the sphere on a path right to the ground. It burst open and the luminous gas faded away harmlessly.

"Shit!" cursed Kaavya, chiding herself. "I should've been more ready for that."

"We all should've. I didn't even throw mine," responded Kunaal as he went to help Rohan up.

As Rohan tried to move his arms right himself, he realized with a start that he couldn't move them. They didn't feel broken; rather, it felt as if some invisible force was keeping them fixed in place. With Kunaal's help, he was back on his feet- for a moment. "Kunaal!" cried Kaavya, too late.

As Kunaal turned his head, his vision was filled with the Pokémon's daunting face careening towards him. In a moment he, too, was on the ground. Again, its eyes turned a bright red before it disappeared once more. Kaavya rushed towards Kunaal, keeping her wits about her. This time Rohan stumbled, but much to his surprise, he was able to move his arms to steady himself. A moment later, though, they snapped back into place, fixed and immobile once more. Curious.

"Kunaal, can you move your arms?" he asked.

As Kaavya helped him up, he tried to move them and alarm spread across his face as he realized they, too, were fixed in place. "Yeah, me neither" added Rohan. "Behind you!" he yelled as the purple gas once more began to materialize behind Kaavya.

This time, however, she was ready. As Mismagius fully materialized, careening towards her, she flung herself to the side while holding Kunaal. As she did, she turned around to see the amorphous creature sail past her, cloaked in a deep purple glow. Part of it nicked her as it flew by and she winced but thinking quickly she had managed to snatch Kunaal's sphere and now aimed it at Mismagius. Seeing the threat, it dispersed once more without glowing its eyes red.

"Looks like I get to keep my arms," she said, still heaving as Kunaal got to his feet. The three quickly regrouped and assumed another defensive formation, this time paying close attention. By this point, however, the tug on their psyches that had been there since the start was impossible to ignore. Their heads began to ache, and their vision began to blur.

"Guys… I think we're running out of time," panted Rohan.

* * *

Three minutes in, Anabel was impressed to find that all three of them were still standing, though not without effort; the pain was clearly beginning to set in. Her Pokémon's continuous use of Phantom Force was certainly confounding them, but they seemed to be holding their own. The use of Spite on Rohan and Kunaal, though, was probably a bit too much: when used against Pokémon, which typically had numerous abilities, it lessened the opponent's ability to use the last move that it used. When used on a human, with no such abilities, the effects could be devastating, often restricting the use of limbs. She typically reserved that technique for pursuing hardened criminals, but clearly Mismagius didn't feel like going easy.

She chided herself for that oversight and decided to watch how well they hold up rather than expect a victory for these three exhausted students. It would be way too difficult at this point…

* * *

As his body started to fail him bit by bit and his focus was drifting, Rohan was keenly aware that they needed a solution and they needed one fast.

_Come on, Rohan, think! How can we grab the core?_

As he saw it, there were only two kinds of approaches:

_Don't draw it out, just try to find it and grab it. No… we don't have enough energy for that_

_One of us draw it out, another throw a sphere and the last one grab it. Probably, but how?_

He realized Kaavya could throw the sphere, but he and Kunaal had their hands bound. Could she also grab it? No, there wouldn't be enough time. It would all have to happen within a second. So, two questions he needed to answer now:

_How do we lure it out?_

_How do we grab the core quickly enough?_

Not easy questions to answer.

_Let's see, what made it come out to begin with? It probably saw where we were and struck there. But why did it attack again so soon, and how did it know where? We scattered._

At that moment, he realized that both of his questions had the same answer. It wouldn't be elegant, but it would do the job.

"Guys," he said, heaving. "I think I know how we beat this thing."

Still facing outwards in their defensive formation, they didn't turn to face him. He continued.

"You guys stand back from me and I'll try to move my arms, which should lure Mismagius out. I think that's what happened the last couple times."

"That's crazy!" replied Kunaal. "Your gonna let that thing hit you? And then what would we even do?"

"Kaavya, as soon as it materializes, throw the sphere. And Kunaal, for a moment you should be able to move your arms again. I think it can only lock one of us at a time. You need to grab the core as soon as you see it."

Silence for a moment as they considered this.

Kaavya was the first to speak. "You crazy son of a bitch… alright, let's do it."

"God dammit, man, don't get killed, alright?" said Kunaal.

The two of them slowly crept forward to their positions across from each other, along the path they hoped Mismagius would take towards Rohan. The time was now.

Rohan turned to face them, took a deep breath in, and yelled "Come at me, Mismagius!" With that, he flailed his arms against the invisible force.

* * *

Anabel arose from her seat in the corner of the room and watched the students take up their positions as Rohan suddenly yelled and shoved his arms forward. Her Mismagius materialized right in front of him and crashed right into him, but in that same moment Kaavya flung one of the spheres at it.

Rohan careened to the ground unconscious, but she could see that all of a sudden Kunaal could move his arms again. The luminous gas surged through Mismagius' body and settled on the small core, fluttering rapidly around. Kunaal gritted his teeth and lunged forward at that moment, and before the surprised Mismagius could disappear again Kunaal's hand met the core.

"Mismagius, release them!" commanded Anabel from the corner of the room. She watched as Kunaal and Kaavya's bodies visibly relaxed, the mental strain lifted from them. Mismagius drifted to the side as the two students looked at their unconscious friend, the final head-on impact combined with the strain of the perish song proving to be too much for him.

Anabel walked over to him and crouched down. He was breathing, but out cold, thoroughly exhausted. "He should be just fine with some rest," determined Anabel. The students behind her both let out sighs of relief. She took off her jacket and balled it up, putting it underneath his head. "That was quite the trick you three pulled. Just remarkable. It was his idea?"

"Yeah," replied Kaavya. "It sounded crazy, but the kind of crazy that just might be brilliant."

"And it totally was. We were on our last dregs of energy as we managed to pull it off" added Kunaal.

Anabel faced them and smiled. "Yes, _you two_ pulled it off. Even with that plan, the timing had to be perfect, and when it came down to it you pulled through. Very well done."

The two students smiled, but uneasily. They felt undeserving of such praise as their friend lay unconscious.

Anabel turned to him now. "Maiden Anabel, if I may," began Kunaal. "He really is the best of us. We wouldn't have been able to do it without his insight, courage, and faith in us the whole way through."

After a moment, Kaavya spoke up as well. "I agree. He was the hero today, and he really proved something."

Anabel looked at Rohan now, somewhat frail as he lay but undeniably clever and brave. Rough around the edges, sure, but with a fire inside him that one might not expect.

She turned to Kunaal and Kaavya. "Well, you both proved something as well. You two are clever, feisty, tenacious, and some of the brightest and best kids I've ever worked with. I could not be more impressed with what I've seen. You'll both do incredible things, and I look forward to watching that happen."

They beamed, proud and overwhelmed with what they'd achieved. Anabel knew that they would remember this day for years as one of the defining moments of who they would become. She just felt glad that she was here to witness it.

Just then, Rohan began to rouse. "Ugh… did we pull it off?" he asked. He looked up to see Kaavya, Kunaal and Anabel standing over him, smiling.

"Yes" replied Anabel. "Oh, and by the way…" she reached out her hand. "Welcome to the team."

* * *

_A/N: Whew, this chapter ended up being WAY longer than I thought it would be! Turns out there was a lot I wanted to do with it, as the challenge with Mismagius was a lot more intricate this time. The next chapter probably won't be quite this long. That said, I'd love to hear what anyone reading thinks about where this is going so far. I'm always looking to improve. Also, sorry for being inept and only just figuring out how to add horizontal lines. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

_May 22, 2018_

_4:41pm Central Daylight Time_

_La Aldea, Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico_

Weaving her way through crowded streets, she darted between back alleys and around the stubby homes strewn all over, packed together like sardines. From a shadowy crevasse between two of the bland concrete structures, she pulled herself onto one of the roofs using the mess of steel piping as a foothold. Momentarily blinded by the harsh glare of the late-afternoon sun, she frantically considered her options for a suitable escape route as her eyes adjusted, then deftly bound across the rooftops to a ladder down to a gulley which bled back into the busy main road. As she slid down it, the hollow metal of the ladder began to clatter with the heavy footsteps of her numerous pursuers clambering over the rooftops.

"We see you, _niñita, _you're not getting away!"

_Dammit. _

Shaking these men was clearly not going to be easy. Thinking quickly, she slipped behind a nearby dumpster in the gulley and tried pulling it upwards. Heavy, but she didn't have any better options. Setting it gently back down, she stayed low as the men made their way into the gulley from the rooftops.

"She can't have gone far. Check everywhere!" commanded one of the men, as she saw her opportunity and with a grunt, heaved the dumpster over onto the unsuspecting men, knocking them off balance as the rancid contents spilled over them. Without a moment's hesitation, she dashed out of the gulley and into the main road, thankful for the cover that the swarm of people provided. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she began to regain her bearings and make her way back towards the machine shop. She continued to move with the crowd as inconspicuously as possible before ducking into another passageway that would lead her back. It was a narrow, less-used path that usually allowed her to pass undetected. Of course, that also meant there were no people this way.

Or at least, that was usually the case. But as she rounded the next corner, she let out a gasp as she was barely able to duck under a grapple from another large man. Her senses went back into overdrive. _More of them, down this way!?_

No time to ponder over that now, though. She began to sprint away as fast as she could, but she could feel the man gaining on her. From the corner of her eye, she saw an old, broken wrought-iron crowbar. Lowering her body, she slammed a foot into the wall of the narrow passageway, propelling herself clockwise as she scooped up the crowbar and smashed it into the man's groin. It connected well, but as the breath visibly escaped him and he toppled backwards, she saw a red-and-white ball leave his hand and sail past her head, behind her. Her pupils dilated and her skin went cold.

_No, no, no…_

As she turned back around, she saw a huge purple mass of muscle materialize before her, its red eyes and three tan fins on its head giving it a menacing look. At around 2 meters tall, she knew very little around here could stand up to it, let alone her. Only as she heard it clatter to the ground did she realize that she had released her crowbar, hand paralyzed by fear.

"Say hello to _El Dominador_. Impressive, no?"

She turned her head to see that the three men from before had caught up, while the fourth who had just jumped her was slowly beginning to get back on his feet. She turned to face them now.

Their leader was standing with a wry smile on his face.

"He came all the way from Japan; very strong. A worthwhile investment, I'd say. Over the past few months, he has helped put us back at the top of the pecking order. None of the other thugs have a chance at pushing us around."

His smile disappeared as he faced her down, eyes blazing.

"So, imagine my surprise when a little girl from a machine shop, of all things, thought she could somehow get out of paying her dues for the steel we so painstakingly supplied from the Silao Ironworks."

She gulped, but never left his gaze, anger coursing through her. "My _dues_? You call 75% of the value of 6 months' worth of steel within two weeks _dues_!? That was never our agreement and you know it!"

"Shut your mouth, if you know what's good for you!" The man was furious now, not used to being spoken back to like this. "If there's one thing you should know about doing business with us, it's that we _always _get what we want, when we want. Understand that, and we can get along swimmingly. But defy that…"

He snapped his fingers as the girl spun herself back around to see the hulking beast roar and raise its arms above its head. She buckled down and put her arms in front of her head, bracing herself. As it advanced towards her with increasing speed, sending shivers down her spine each time a foot hit the ground, her thoughts drifted to her father alone in the machine shop.

_Ay Papa, I'm so sorry… I told you I'd always be there for you. _Tears welled up in her eyes as she gritted her teeth. Was this the end…?

_Thunk. _Something big and loud crashed just in front of her, reverberating with… a metallic ring? As she realized that she wasn't in a vice grip and her spine had not been shattered, she apprehensively moved her arms from her face.

Her eyes widened and breath escaped her as she saw before her what she could only describe as a giant metal crab.

A voice echoed behind her, in English. "You four, stop where you are!"

* * *

_May 22, 2018_

_4:30pm Central Daylight Time_

Steven Stone was confused and unsure. Ironically, despite being the one to suggest looking for promising young students to aid in their investigation, he found himself unconvinced after his session with the top 10 students at the Léon World Academy. It's not that he was wholly unimpressed by them; they were all very accomplished students with numerous accolades, and generally good problem-solving abilities. They were able to come up with the nearest insertion solution to the travelling salesperson problem fairly efficiently, and three students stood out during that and the interviews as being particularly intelligent.

Then, of course, came his special challenge: topple his stationary, 370-kilogram Aggron. By no means an easy task, granted, but there were ways. Brute strength was clearly not going to cut it, but even given how well-trained it was by Steven himself, it could still have been aggravated to charge forward, providing an opportunity to shove it off balance. Of course, if anything got too out of hand, Steven would have commanded his Pokémon to stop. Maybe the kids didn't realize that, or they simply didn't think of that as an option. Either way, they didn't try anything crafty of the sort. To their credit, they worked well as a team, trying multiple strategies from pulling the Pokémon from multiple sides to all shoving it with all their might from another angle. Ultimately however, it was in vain, and Steven stopped them as they ran out of time.

Steven sighed. _They didn't do badly. They did lots of things very well, _he told himself over and over. But as he tried to think of which of the students stood out, with the potential to offer insight they hadn't previously considered, he realized that he needed more time to think it over.

So, here he was, riding his Aerodactyl roughly a kilometer above the Guanajuato region of Mexico heading south from the city of Léon, having told the students to expect a decision by later this evening. The gentle glide of his ashen-grey Pokémon with the wind gently rushing through his hair always managed to help straighten out his thoughts.

After hearing how Cynthia and Anabel were able to find students that demonstrated such tremendous qualities, Steven was certainly proud that he had proposed this plan. But now, having finished his own session, he found himself wondering whether that had made him set his standards too high. Despite all their qualifications, the students that he had worked with today just didn't… well, inspire him all that much. Given that his two colleagues finished before him, he had been implicitly evaluating how the students would compliment the qualities of those the two of them had chosen, as they had described to him. He was hoping to notice a standout quality that would neatly round off their trio but had come up empty. They were smart and dedicated, sure, but they were missing… something. Steven just couldn't quite put his finger on what.

Looking down from his Aerodactyl, Steven watched as the outskirts of the city of Léon gave way to the dense complexes of homes and gritty-looking streets of the industrial area just outside Silao, the neighboring town. He decided to give his Pokémon a break and set down somewhere for a while. Checking the GPS on his wrist, he realized that he was flying over the small industrial town of La Aldea. He tapped a pattern into the thick, rocky hide of his winged companion, and it swooped down into the town. Gliding at low altitude drew some gasps and exclamations from people below; they weren't used to seeing that many large, flying Pokémon at all, let alone one as ancient as this.

As Steven was about to set Aerodactyl down and wander the town for a bit, he caught some commotion from the street below in the corner of his eye. Perplexed, he commanded Aerodactyl to lower so that he could get a better look. He managed to spot 3 men aggressively shoving their way through the crowd before ducking into an alleyway, out of sight. Odd.

He was about to turn away and land elsewhere when he saw a young girl, no more than 17 or 18, clamber onto the roofs above and dash across to what looked like a way down to another alleyway. But just as she managed to get down, the same 3 men had made it onto the rooftops and were running in her direction, yelling something Steven couldn't understand.

As it dawned on her that the girl might be in trouble, Steven decided to get closer. Despite being registered with the International Police, general crimes outside of Japan were outside his jurisdiction. But he wasn't about to sit idly by as God-knows-what happens to this young girl.

He gently touched down on the rooftops as the three men made their way down into the alleyway and crept forward to get a better look. They seemed to be discussing something angrily, when all of a sudden, a dumpster toppled into them and the girl sprinted away from underneath before the 3 men could regain their bearings. Despite the dire situation, Steven couldn't help but crack a smile. _Clever girl. _

Realizing that he could step in at any time, he decided to discretely tail the girl as she made her way into the busy crowd, re-mounting Aerodactyl and gently hovering over the scene. She wasn't easy to keep track of as she deftly weaved her way inconspicuously through the crowd before slinking down another path, but the bird's eye view helped tremendously. With a few taps, Steven commanded Aerodactyl to head towards a nearby rooftop. Upon touching down, Steven crouched down and made his way to the edge…

…just in time to see her duck under the grasp of another man! Steven had to put a hand over his mouth so as not to audibly gasp as she kept sprinting away. Despite her best efforts, the large man was gaining on her, and Steven reached to his belt for a Poké Ball, about to intervene.

But clearly this girl still had some tricks up her sleeve. Steven watched in astonishment as she scooped up what looked to be a broken crowbar and expertly pivoted around to slam it into her pursuer at full force, toppling the man twice her size. _Incredible! _This girl was crafty, brave and strong to boot.

It took Steven a moment to stop marveling at what he'd just witnessed and realize that there was suddenly a large Machoke behind her. Steven's hand tightened once again around his Poké Ball as he prepared to intervene at any moment. Seeing a Machoke in this small Mexican town was itself a surprise, let alone one this big. It mustn't have been from around here, Steven surmised.

He watched as the three men from earlier made their way down the alleyway to keep her pinned from either side. The situation was becoming dire. One of the men and the girl began to argue, but he could see the fear in her eyes as the man finally snapped his fingers and the Machoke readied itself.

_Oh, to hell with jurisdiction. _Steven expertly flung a Poké Ball right between the Machoke and the girl, summoning his trusty Metagross, which absorbed the Machoke's attack head-on with ease. Another Poké Ball in hand, Steven leapt down into the alleyway to face the four men, bewildered expressions across their faces. "You four, stop where you are!" he commanded.

They didn't.

Either unable to understand him or simply dazed and confused, the men began to panic and try to run back to the safety of the main road, the large one from just a moment ago hobbling with his hand over his crotch. Steven sighed as he flung another ball in front of their paths, bringing forth his Cradily; an imposing, green Pokémon whose crane-like neck and pink tendrils were clearly completely alien to the four thugs who stopped dead in their tracks, jaws hanging open.

"Cradily, block," he commanded, as roots sprung from the Pokémon's sides and dug into the ground just before they sprung out of the ground again to ensnare the crooks, molding the hardened earth around them with practiced ease.

Meanwhile, the Machoke found itself baffled as its arms connected not with a small human girl, but a large steel quadruped. Having only ever known swift and easy victory from its training back in Kanto, and especially here in La Aldea where the only large Pokémon were the occasional Boufflant, it surmised that if it were simply to hit the steel Pokémon even harder, it would surely crumple at its feet.

As it readied its next Cross Chop, Metagross' head glowed a bright pink as the two Pokémon propelled themselves towards each other. Victory was indeed swift and easy as the thick, strong bones of the Machoke's arms buckled and cracked. It fell backwards to the ground, thoroughly defeated.

"Metagross, what- oh, blast." Steven turned to see his Pokémon standing over the severely injured Machoke. Clearly, the poor stupid thing thought it could win against Metagross head-on and had managed to shatter its arms in the process. Looking around, he managed to find its ball and return it, resolving to get it medical attention at the next available opportunity. For now, it would be as safe as it could be in the stasis of the Poké Ball.

Finally, Steven turned to the girl, still shaking from the harrowing experience. "Are you alright?" he asked her in English, before pausing to consider that she may not even understand him. After a moment though, she slowly nodded her head.

"Yes. Thank you for saving me, _se_… sir." Steven smiled and put an arm on her shoulder as she began to calm down, still visibly bewildered by all that had happened in the last two minutes or so. "It's going to be okay now. You were very brave."

From behind him, one of the four men began struggling with his bindings, yelling something in Spanish. Steven turned to face him as the girl clenched her fists. "Ass… he is saying that- ah, monster is his."

Steven turned the Machoke's ball in his hand before glaring at the man. "Could you tell him that I'm going to get it medical attention, and that he's unlikely to see it again?"

The girl translated this, and as the man's face became bright red with rage and he was about to respond, Steven snapped his fingers twice rapidly and the binds on the four men grew even tighter. Finally, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello, is this the La Aldea police department? …splendid, I'd like to report a case of aggravated assault with intent to kill… four men, and the situation is under control now, they're constrained… yes, this is Steven Stone with the International Police. I can send you the location and you can dispatch… no, frankly I do _not_ care about jurisdiction, someone could have died… sure, whatever, take it up with Interpol then. But send the dispatch first or else." Steven hung up the phone, shaking his head. Finally, he returned his Cradily and Metagross, clipping their balls to his belt.

"Ah, sir… your name, it is Steven… Stone, yes?"

Steven turned to face the girl. "Ah yes, how rude of me. I hadn't introduced myself. And your name, miss?"

The girl smiled. "Maria. Maria Nuñez."

* * *

Everything had happened so fast. As if by divine intervention, Maria found herself safe with her pursuers bound within mere moments. And her knight in shining armor? A man who seemed to have quite literally descended from the heavens to save her. He even _looked _like some sort of angel.

Maria found herself taken aback by his light metallic blue eyes and hair, dark grey overcoat with purple inlay, a red scarf and what appeared to be cuffs of polished, stainless steel. All of this, paired with his foreign features, made him easily recognizable as not from around these parts. Asian? Japanese, maybe? That seemed the most likely.

She had heard stories throughout her life of the dazzling array of powerful creatures that roamed free in that far-off land- Pokémon, but many more than here in La Aldea, her home. Alas, as far as her life was concerned, it may as well have been fiction- that life, she knew, would always be beyond her. The best she could hope for was that with enough hard work, she and her father would save enough that she could go study in America and make a better life for herself there. With that in mind, her father had been teaching her English as best as he could from a young age- he wasn't fluent himself, but with some books he was able to collect over the years and the occasional use of the Internet (when it worked), he was able to teach her quite a bit.

But now, as she found herself actually using that English, her brain was working hard just to keep up.

"So, tell me, Maria- you know these men?"

"Yes, they… uh, they sell to me steel." She paused, having almost forgotten the word. "We had a deal to pay over 6 months, but they wanted sooner. I can't pay so much, so soon."

He nodded. "I see. And what do you do that you need the steel for?"

"Um, I fix things… cars, bikes, wash machines, uh, cook machines… me and my Papa. Also, we make pieces. We work in a… er, how do you say? Tools shop? Crafts shop?"

"So, a machine shop that also does repairs?" offered Steven.

"Yes! Yes, a machine shop." She chided herself for forgetting the English term. The last thing she wanted was to appear as some clueless little girl, especially to a man like this. Steven Stone, he said his name was? And… International Police? Needless to say, she had never met or even seen anyone like him. What was he doing here? What was his life like, in Japan? As her head filled with questions, she realized that she needed to learn more about this man. There was something about him…

"Um, I live there, with my Papa. He expects me home now, or he will be worried… Thank you so much, Mr. Stone, really."

Steven smiled and nodded. "Oh, but naturally. I wasn't going to just leave you with those brutes. But yes, I suppose you should be getting home." He paused for a moment, and Maria blurted:

"Mr. Stone, please come have dinner with us?"

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! _There were so many more tactful ways to approach that. Why would a man like Mr. Stone, who was clearly very important, want to have dinner at some commoner's cramped machine shop in a random little Mexican town? One exciting thing happens in 17 years of monotony and here she was throwing it all away.

"…as… as thank you. It's all that I can offer," she added tentatively. To her surprise, a smile spread on Steven's face, almost as if he was hoping for just that.

"Actually, Maria, I would love to join you for dinner. Thank you for offering."

Maria couldn't believe her luck. Excitedly, she gestured for him to follow, guiding him down the familiar path back to her home. Her mind was overflowing with all the things she could ask him. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Maria had something to look forward to.

* * *

As he followed the girl down the narrow, winding paths between fences, main roads and houses of concrete, Steven was mildly aware that he had to make a very important decision tonight to complete a plan he himself proposed. Never a stranger to spontaneity, however, he told himself that it would just have to wait. He simply _had _to learn more about this unique young girl, and her offer to have dinner with her served as the perfect opportunity to do just that, saving him the trouble of finding some other excuse.

Even now, Steven was mentally taking notes as Maria guided him to her home, navigating the winding streets with a level of grace and ease that could only have been acquired through years of doing so, slowing down occasionally so that Steven could keep up. Clearly, this wasn't the first time she'd ran into trouble; Steven got the sense that she probably had numerous run-ins with shady suppliers in the past as she did her best to keep her machine shop running.

Which is presumably where she spent the rest of her days, repairing all sorts of vehicles and appliances alongside her father. Was it just the two of them? Steven couldn't help but wonder what happened to her mother, or if she once had siblings. Either way, they must have meant the world to each other. He could see that in her.

Finally, the two reached what appeared to be a heavy, inconspicuous garage door. Steven watched as Maria took a key from her pocket and used it to open a small but thick panel just to the left of it, and then press a series of keys inside. A motor from somewhere inside audibly strained and groaned as the aging door slowly lifted open. Steven smiled to himself. Clearly, they had taken measures to ensure their safety in such a rough neighborhood. Clever, to be sure.

"Two-factor authentication, very nice," he said. Upon seeing the bemused look on her face, he decided to rephrase, with some hand gestures: "The lock _and _the keypad. Nice."

Her face reddened as she chuckled, nodding hastily. "Oh, yes, thank you Mr. Stone. My papa and I did it 2 years ago after many things were stolen. It has been working well, I think."

Steven nodded. "Well, it looks very solid."

As the door began to lift open, Steven could hear from behind it the clattering of tools on the ground followed by hurriedly approaching footsteps. It continued to lift away, revealing a small but well-built man, probably in around his mid-50s. Having clearly just gotten up from whatever he was working on, his breathing was somewhat heavy and his hand (blackened with either soot or oil) rested on his right knee, which sagged somewhat. As his eyes met Maria's, a warm smile spread across his face.

"Maria, _mi querida, _oh thank goodness! I was so worried!" As he walked over to embrace her tightly, Steven noticed a slight limp in his step.

"I know, papa, I'm sorry for being so late. It's been a crazy day." They both turned towards Steven now, as Maria switched back to English: "Papa, this is Mr. Steven Stone. He saved me from Enrique and his men today, so I said he should have dinner with us."

Maria's father took Steven's hand and met his gaze, tears starting to form in his eyes. "Mr. Stone, thank you so, so much. I don't know what I would without my daughter." He paused for a moment to wipe his sleeve over his eyes.

"Of course, Mr. Nuñez. I only did what anyone in my position should have."

"Please, Mr. Stone, call me Javier. Now come in, come in." As Javier led Steven inside, he got his first good look at the space where he and Maria worked and lived.

It was a modest garage with fluorescent lighting fixed to the low ceiling, softly illuminating the hard, concrete floor and the various pieces of machinery- a couple washing machines, a refrigerator, some bicycles, scattered parts, a couple large machines Steven couldn't recognize, and even a whole car- strewn all across it in various stages of repair. On the walls hung various tools: drills, hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers of various shapes and sizes, calipers, cutters, gloves, safety goggles… more than he could count. They all looked somewhat old, with varying amounts of rust, yet well-kept and well-organized. This was clearly the workspace of those who made do with what they had, to take on a range of jobs that no one else could.

"I apologize for the mess, Mr. Stone… we do not get many visitors, you see," said Javier.

Steven almost didn't respond, too busy taking it all in, before snapping back to reality.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Javier. And, please, both of you- call me Steven."

As they walked across the garage to a small staircase at the other end, Steven got a better look at the two strange machines. Both seemed to be bolted into the ground. One had a large electric motor in the center, connected to an axel surrounded by various clamps, calipers and measurement equipment built into the table. On the side sat a box with numerous circular blades of varying width, build, texture and diameter. The other looked more advanced than anything else in the garage; it stretched almost all the way to the ceiling, and housed a narrow spout connected to a series of rails and motors within a plexiglass box. On one side of the box sat a tank, and on the other sat a simple computer monitor with a keyboard and mouse.

Javier and Maria were discussing something in Spanish, and as Steven listened, he got the sense that it had to do with their work. Steven decided to interject.

"Please, if you have work to do, don't fall behind on my account. I would be happy to help, if I could."

The two looked at each other in surprise, then at Steven as Maria spoke.

"Mr. Sto- uh, Steven, we couldn't ask you to do such a thing after you saved my life."

"But is it fine for you to take the evening off?"

Javier smiled uneasily, trying to brush it off, but the worry in his face was impossible to hide.

"Javier, please, I insist," said Steven, as sincerely as possible.

* * *

As Maria clacked away at the keyboard programming the high-precision metal cutter, she found herself still entirely awestruck by the seemingly boundless understanding and generosity of Mr. Steven Stone. He was absolutely right; she and her father still had to cut out steel side panels for a broken refrigerator and fashion a new cog for a broken washing machine to remain on track for their clients.

Papa was working on the steel side panels. They didn't require that much precision but were very large and had to be reasonably thick to insulate properly, which made cutting it a chore. The rotary metal cutter's small electric engine working at full power was barely making it through, and quickly wearing down the blades in doing so. Steven observed this for a moment, then spoke up:

"I think I may be able to help." Maria watched as he pulled one of those red-and-white balls that she had learned to fear from his belt (of which she could see 6!) and summoned what looked to be a large, armored, insect-like creature with big, sharp claws for arms. "My Armaldo should be able to slash those pieces into roughly the right size. Then, you can just cut them to precision."

"You… you can do that?" asked Papa, a bewildered look on his face as he apprehensively glanced over the strange creature. But Maria took one close look at those massive claws and figured it wouldn't even break a sweat.

Papa and Steven took a couple markers and rulers and began drawing out the dimensions of the panels on the thick pieces of metal. Steven then held one of the pieces, with the outlines marked, in front of his Pokémon and, sweeping his hand across the marked line, commanded: "Brick Break."

An amber-blue energy radiated throughout its body and concentrated in its right claw, which it slowly raised and then lowered with a vicious snap, cleaving the metal slab like butter mere millimeters from the marked line.

Steven turned back to Papa, who by this point was smiling with giddy excitement, and said a few words to him. He nodded appreciatively and turned to Maria, saying: "I'm going to go get dinner on. I'll let you guys know when it's ready." With that, he went upstairs. Finally realizing that her jaw had been hanging open the whole time, she snapped herself back to reality.

_Well then, back to the cog, _she thought, as she turned to face the computer monitor once again.

Ever since they salvaged and repaired this old American metal cutter from a landfill 6 months ago, they had been able to take on jobs that required much more precision than before. She surmised that it must have been state-of-the-art about 20 years ago, but now stood in their humble machine shop as a cobbled-together repair job with an old keg as the water reservoir and a used workstation computer with cracked software to program it (which, as a bonus, was also a lot more usable than their old computer to log inventory and look things up on the internet, when it worked). It was a longshot, she knew, convincing her father that the hours upon hours spent hauling it from the landfill to their garage, opening it up and finding replacement parts for everything needed to make it work again would be worth it in the end. But so far, it seemed be, and she was endlessly thankful that her father had so much faith in her judgement.

Surprisingly, Steven was very interested in this whole story, and she found herself stretching her English to its very limit explaining it all to him. Despite all of her fumbling around for the right words, he was patient and interested.

This cog for the washing machine was large and intricate; she had pulled the old one from it, but it was thoroughly fractured and battered, rendering some of the details hard to make out. She tried to look up the model number, but not unexpectedly, the internet wasn't working; connection out here was slow and very spotty, so she knew that waiting for it to work would probably just waste more time.

Instead, she took a notepad, pen and caliper, and set down next to the opened-up washing machine. She began meticulously examining the component in relation to its position within the machine to determine the rest of the details, taking measurements where necessary. It required some artful guesswork and intuition, but by this point she was used to it. In fact, she found herself so engrossed in her notepad that she barely noticed Steven peering over her shoulder, watching her work.

Finally satisfied, she went back to the computer and programmed in the rest of the details. She would be able to cut the cog from one of their 10x10x10cm cubes of steel, but she knew she would have to do a couple more runs, reorienting the piece, to fill in some of the horizontal details. She split the program into 3 parts accordingly and, fixing the steel cube in place and ensuring the reservoir was full, ran the first script. The machine sputtered to life as it began pumping water from the reservoir. The nozzle within the plexiglass moved along the rails to be above the edge of the cube, and began blasting a thin stream of high-pressure water, etching away the steel. She always loved watching it work; it filled her with a sense of pride, knowing that she was able to bring it back to life. She turned now to Steven.

"Steven… thank you, again, for helping us. It's very kind of you."

Maybe fatigue was finally getting to her, but she could've sworn that she saw in his eyes that very same pride and wonder, as he turned to her to answer:

"Maria, it really is my pleasure to be working with you."

* * *

"Steven, these pieces look almost perfect!" said Javier. "I will probably just have to file the edges and it'll be ready. Thank you so much for your help."

"Really, don't mention it." Steven himself was a little surprised at how cleanly Armaldo had made those cuts. He chuckled to himself- even as champion of the Hoenn region, he still sometimes failed to appreciate just how capable Pokémon really are with the right training.

"Thanks to you, we're back on track." Javier smiled, and Steven could see that this time he was much more relaxed. "Come, let us have dinner. You must be famished."

At this point, Steven could hardly hide it; he had only eaten a small lunch before his session at Léon World Academy, and now with the adrenaline gone, he needed food. "That sounds wonderful."

And so, the three of them went up the small staircase to the upper level.

The stairs led directly into a kitchen with a table in the middle that could comfortably seat two. There was a single halogen bulb in the ceiling, a handful of cupboards, a small fridge, a sink with a faucet and one window. Next to it was a simple gas stovetop with the gas cylinder connected beside it, upon which sat two covered pots, the flames on a low simmer.

Javier produced three plates, three forks and two trivets from the cupboards, setting them down on the small table. There were two chairs and a stool that looked to be from the garage. Finally, he turned off the stove and set the pots on the trivets, opening them to reveal rice and a vegetable stew. He then opened a small electric grill to the side as the scent of grilled meat filled the room. He removed the tray inside with an oven mitt and picked up some tongs.

"Steven, would you care for some Pidove meat?" asked Javier.

"Oh. Erm, no thank you." Javier looked confused for a moment before setting pieces down on two of the three plates.

He had almost forgotten that in areas like this quite far from Japan or any other of the officially recognized "Pokémon-rich" regions, eating Pokémon meat was still commonplace, especially in areas where suitable synthetic replacements were harder to come by. Even in Japan, to be fair, Pokémon meat was still widely eaten until around 20 years ago, with laws preventing it only put in place around 10. He chided himself, realizing how rude that must look. "Mmm, the stew smells lovely," he said, trying to recover. Thankfully, it seemed to work.

Javier smiled. "My mother's special recipe. Nothing fancy, but made with love." The three of them sat down around the table, Maria taking the stool, and served themselves one by one before finally beginning to eat. The stew _was _very good; despite the simple ingredients and preparation, it was full of flavor.

The conversation was wonderful. Maria and Javier had many questions for him, all of which he answered in explaining who he was, his role as champion, the work he did with the International Police, and what he was doing in Guanajuato, much to their shock and awe.

Steven also wound up learning a great deal about Maria and her father: she was an only child whose mother sadly died in childbirth, and the two had been living here together ever since. Javier had put Maria through school until she was 13, by which point he could no longer financially support it. All the time she spent at home, Javier was either working or teaching her English. It wasn't long before Maria was helping him with simple tasks, and then more complicated ones. Apparently, it was Maria who suggested that she should help her father with work full-time, so that they could be more financially secure. As Javier's knee started to go bad, Maria also began doing most of the supply runs which, more often than not, were with very shady people. Throughout her life, then, she had learnt the skills of an accomplished mechanic and machinist, as well as fighting and self-preservation, running a small business and generally dealing with the real world in all its cruelty and unfairness. All while taking every opportunity to learn new skills.

Throughout the dinner, Steven was mostly unaware that while he was making these observations about Maria- her skills, background and character- he was implicitly evaluating her in the context of working alongside Kevin Park and Rohan Advani. And this time, he was very much _not _coming up empty.

At a certain point, this notion became impossible to ignore. He realized that he would have to draft emails to the students at Léon World Academy tonight, because he had made up his mind.

"Maria," he finally said, "I have a proposition."

* * *

Maria was floored. Absolutely floored. It was all too much. First, she had been miraculously saved from a 2-meter-tall muscular purple monster by a giant metal crab and a man who, by every descriptor she could think of, looked like some sort of angel. Then, she invited the angel over for dinner, and not only did he come, but he also summoned a giant armored insect to help them cut steel. And now…

And now, the angel was offering to whisk her away to Japan for a week because _her _skills could be useful in stopping some network of hunters.

To _Japan_! She had never even left Guanajuato, and here this man was offering to take her to _Japan_!

Well, if there was any doubt before, that settled it. This whole thing had to be some bizarre dream.

And so, she began to laugh.

Papa stood up and yanked her by the ear, just as he used to do whenever he was angry at her, and said to Steven "Excuse us for a moment" as he dragged her downstairs.

"Maria! Maria, this man is a head figure in the International Police. He just offered you the opportunity of a lifetime, and you're laughing!?"

Maria stopped laughing, disbelief still plastering her face. "Papa, this… this isn't some strange dream?"

His face softened, and he cupped her head in his hands. "No, Maria, _mi querida_. This is real. I'm right here, and I could not be more proud of you."

Now Maria was starting to tear up. "But Papa… I can't leave you here, there's too much work. How will you finish everything?"

He smiled warmly, tears in his eyes too. "That is not for you to worry about, my sweet. If I need to tell clients that their repairs will be delayed, then so be it."

He smirked. "But your Papa can still get the job done. Unless you think I'm too old and senile?"

Maria laughed again, despite it all. "Oh Papa, I know you can. Everything I know, I learnt from you." She paused for a moment as her brain finally caught up to the moment and she mentally tabulated everything, before continuing: "Well then, I need to show you once more where I save our inventory logs on the computer. Oh, and the clients list; contact information, addresses, past repairs… The suppliers too! There's a separate list, everything's organized, but you can search by location, name, and I also put for each a transaction log and risk assessment… For the next week, you should be good with supplies, but if you need to get something, keep the risk low. Call Diego, you shouldn't run around with your knee. I also need to-"

"Maria, _cálmese, mi querida_. You can explain everything to me, and I will be fine," Papa interjected, still smiling. "When was it that I stopped taking care of you and you started taking care of me?"

"We take care of each other, Papa." Maria exhaled, calming somewhat. "And, do you think you'll be able to operate the precision cutter?"

He clasped her shoulder. "Shouldn't be a problem. After all, I learn from the best."

Maria smiled at this, cheeks reddening, as Papa continued: "So then, you're doing this?"

Maria closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled and then opened them again. "I guess so. I can't believe it, but… I guess so."

"Well then," Papa said, gesturing to the stairs, "Your big moment awaits."

Maria walked back up the stairs, heart in her throat, with Papa right behind her. As she reached the top, she saw that Steven was waiting, patiently yet expectantly. She took another deep breath.

"Steven… Thank you so much for your offer."

He looked… nervous, actually. Was that a bead of sweat on his forehead? For the first time in her life, she mattered to someone important. Maybe she could _be _someone important.

She smiled. "It would be an honor… to work alongside you."

* * *

_A/N: For anyone still reading, sorry for the hiatus. My plan is to continue posting about once a week for as long as I can. Anyway, we've finally introduced all 3 of our main characters, so the main story can begin. As always, I'd love to hear any thoughts._


	5. Chapter 5

_May 23, 2018_

_6:49pm Japan Standard Time_

_Somewhere over the Sea of Japan_

Kevin Park was sitting in a private jet almost 11 kilometers directly above the Sea of Japan, en route to the Sevii Islands in Kanto, Japan, from Seoul, South Korea. Even over 24 hours after he had been offered the position, he felt that it still hadn't quite sunk in just how momentous this all was. As the kind of person who never really fixated on one specific field of study, Kevin had been dreaming of a profession where he could analytically tackle a wide range of intellectual problems for years. And, until this opportunity suddenly presented itself about a week ago, he had never imagined that it could be with the International Police. But now, he was about to do just that.

Over the years, his parents had been generally quite supportive; given his good grades and well-rounded nature, they had little to complain about and were confident that he would get into a prestigious university- as he did indeed. But that hadn't stopped his father, a successful investment banker, from 'gently' trying to prod him into the field. Naturally, he had spent some time over the years 'interning' with partners of his father (he hesitated to even use that term, hating the nepotism of it all). He showed a good deal of promise, but never really felt like that was how he could spend his life.

So, when he arrived home last night to tell his parents that he had gotten the position and would be leaving the next evening, he did so with a sense of pride that for once, he had truly earned something big all by _himself_. And his parents were proud of him for that, particularly his mother.

"This is wonderful news, Kevin! This way you can get some insight into what you really want to do," she had said. His father was proud too, if not somewhat skeptical as to the value of it, but that did little to stifle his excitement.

Later that evening, he had even received a message from Cecelia Kim, of all people.

_Hey man, you'd better not screw this up, _it had said. He was about to brush her off, but the next message read:

_You're representing all of us now. So, we're all behind you, you know that? _

He smiled. She had always been a little cut-throat and callous, but maybe Cynthia really had taught her a valuable lesson. Plus, despite her competitive nature all throughout high school, he could tell that bit by bit she was warming up to him as a friend. So, he replied:

_You got it. I'll miss you too, C ;)_

Seconds later, he received:

_Very funny, Kev. So… keep me posted, yeah?_

_Will do, _he replied.

Now, as he sat in the plane a little over an hour until landing, he reflected on how lucky he was to have friends back home who had his back, for all their quirks. This quickly led to him pondering his co-workers for the next week. Cynthia had told him that he would be working alongside 2 others roughly his age from India and Mexico. Having never been to either of those places, he was having trouble picturing what sort of people they might be. Nevertheless, his mind raced with possibilities, fueled further when Cynthia finally told them their names earlier that evening before they boarded the plane: Rohan Advani and Maria Nuñez.

Though, she seemed a little concerned with the latter. He wondered what the problem was and hoped that it wouldn't jeopardize her involvement. Despite knowing nothing about the girl, he could imagine how much it would suck to be given such great news, only to have it immediately ripped away.

In any case, he was certainly counting down the minutes to their arrival in eager anticipation.

* * *

_Somewhere over China_

Rohan Advani, meanwhile, was nearing the end of his long flight to the Sevii Islands from Mumbai, India, having gotten up early his morning to board the private jet with Anabel.

So much had happened in the past 24 hours: He had worked with his friends to solve an optimization problem, had an interview with an exotic champion from the Hoenn region's Battle Frontier, physically fought her Mismagius (getting knocked out in the process), and then got home, told his parents, chatted excitedly with his friends, packed his bags, and left the next morning. Rohan had never considered himself mentally slow, but it had still taken him a good few hours of sitting on the plane for everything to sink in.

His parents had been quite proud to hear that he got the position. His father, a chief engineer at Tata Motors, welcomed the opportunity for him to take part in such a novel program; it would, after all, look great on his resume, and kids these days needed any advantage they could get to succeed.

His mother, ever the protective one and a constant planner, was a little more apprehensive towards the notion of him packing his bags and flying alone to a new country the next morning with so little prior notice.

"Rohan, my jaan, are you sure about all this? It just seems so sudden."

From the look in her eyes, he could tell that it was more than just the spontaneity of it all that worried her. She was already preparing to spend her last summer with her only child before he would leave for college, and now she was about to lose him for at least another week.

"Don't worry Mama, I'll be fine. And it'll be so good for me! I've never been to Japan."

"Well, call me every evening, okay? And send lots of pictures!"

"Sure, I'll send you photos of whatever isn't classified, then."

He smirked, as she wrapped him in a tight hug. "Take care, my jaan."

Rohan had travelled with his family before, mostly around South Asia and sometimes to Europe, but this would be quite unlike anything he had ever experienced. As he sat in the plane, he pondered his coworkers-to-be; Kevin Park and Maria Nuñez, from Seoul, South Korea and Guanajuato, Mexico, respectively. Soon after telling him that, near the start of their flight, Anabel had pulled out her phone and engaged in what appeared to be a heated conversation with her colleagues in Japanese, presumably so that he wouldn't understand. Wait, was there internet on the plane? He sighed as a quick check on his phone revealed the answer to be no; it was probably a SatCom reserved for military communication or something.

Having asked Anabel what schools they were from only to have his question avoided, he was inclined to research some of the top schools in those areas to make an educated guess, but couldn't for obvious reasons. He was sure there were many such schools in Seoul, what with the city's reputation, but didn't know a thing about Guanajuato. Oh, well; he would just have to see when he met them.

Despite never having been all that outgoing, he still found his brain racing, imagining the sorts of people they might be. Would they be kind? Funny? Brutally competitive? What would it be like working with them?

Those thoughts filled his head as he fidgeted restlessly, figuring that his excitement combined with the jetlag would make sleeping that night very difficult.

* * *

_May 22, 2018_

_11:41pm Central Daylight Time_

_Somewhere over the North Pacific Ocean_

Underpinning the sense of urgency and importance with which Steven had described to Maria the task ahead, they had left that very same night for Japan. She had gotten everything in order back at the machine shop, explaining to her father everything he needed to know, before saying one final goodbye as she and Steven mounted his Aerodactyl to take them to the Léon Airport.

She had been to Léon numerous times before, sometimes with her father to do on-site repairs. It was a very nice city just outside the industrial area and was the most different place from home that she had ever been to. But, having never flown before, she had never been to the airport.

From atop Steven's Aerodactyl, she was treated to a breathtaking birds-eye view of her home in the industrial area as it gave way to the city of Léon and finally the airport. It was a sprawling hub of tarmac, hangars and planes of all shapes and sizes, and as they approached, she got the closest look at those fantastic machines that she had ever gotten before in her life. To think that these huge metal things routinely ferried people through the skies to all corners of the globe… She began to wonder which plane they would be taking.

They had touched down and been escorted through the airport by security out onto the tarmac as their plane was being brought out, and despite it being her first time seeing planes up close, Maria could tell that this one was very different from the rest. It was much smaller than the others, its nose was pointier, and its wings were swept all the way back to connect with the rear of the fuselage. Most strikingly, however, it was jet black; devoid of any of the colorful markings on other planes.

Once inside, Maria could see a handful of fixtures, each one with a seat, an LCD panel and various widgets and buttons. At the center of the plane were two tables with four seats each, divided by the aisle, and along the walls of the fuselage were small, circular windows. Apparently, one of the fixtures with the seats was for her.

Steven sat down in another across the aisle from her and plugged his phone into it. He then positioned the LCD panel in front of him and became quickly absorbed in a conversation (probably with his colleagues?). He was speaking Japanese, which was honestly a bit of a relief, as it removed any temptation for her to exercise even more brainpower trying to understand everything he was saying. It was getting late as their plane began moving down the runway, and she was thoroughly exhausted.

As their plane barreled down the runway and took to the sky, she watched in awe through her window as the city below became smaller and smaller. She sat like that for at least an hour, barely making out clouds through the darkness, until nothing else could be seen and her fatigue was beginning to overcome her excitement. Through trial and error, she figured out that using some of the buttons by her seat, it could be reclined all the way back until it served as a bed.

As she lay there, she tried to picture what she might experience over the next few days. Steven had mentioned to her briefly that she would be working with two boys her age named Kevin Park and Rohan Advani. Apparently, they were from top schools in South Korea and India, but that did very little to help her picture what they might be like. She had never even been to a high school, let alone a top school in a foreign country. She wondered if they'd think she was stupid. She tried to push that thought away as she finally drifted to sleep…

* * *

_10:02pm Central Daylight Time_

_Léon Airport, Guanajuato, Mexico_

As Steven boarded the plane with Maria and showed her to her seat, he realized to his amusement that Maria's first time flying would be aboard an AeroLock 3900X "Staraptor"- an experimental supersonic jet designed for high-speed deployment or transport of personnel over long distances. Built as a collaborative effort between Japan and their allies in Unova specifically for the International Police Special Forces, there were currently only 3 in the world. Steven had taken this plane so that he could get back to base as quickly as possible; time was of the essence, after all.

Once he was seated, he realized with a start that his colleagues would have been waiting for him to check in with them. The evening had been so eventful that he had almost forgotten. He plugged his phone into the seat's conference monitor and connected to the Interpol SatCom Network via the plane's antennae, and then opened a channel with Cynthia and Anabel. Cynthia was the first to respond.

"Steven, hi! You're finally on the plane?"

"Hey Cynthia. Yeah, just boarded. Where are you?"

"Still at the hotel. I have a few hours before I pick up Kevin and head to the airport. How was Léon?"

"Oh, pretty good… we'll talk about it once we get Anabel."

Finally, she connected.

"Hey guys. Just took off with Rohan a half hour or so ago. So, Steven, let's hear it then?"

And so, Steven explained to them his session at the Léon World Academy, followed by the rest of the evening's events and his eventual offer to Maria Nuñez, the extremely multi-talented mechanic girl who was currently sitting across from him, face plastered to the window in amazement. There was a long, uncomfortable pause before either of them spoke. Eventually, Anabel broke the silence.

"So… let me get this straight-"

"I'm feeling an unpleasant déjà vu," interjected Steven with a smirk, which quickly disappeared as Anabel glared at him so forcefully through the monitor that he could feel it in his spine.

"…you went to the Léon World Academy, had a session with the top 10 students who had all painstakingly completed our application on such short notice, and then rejected all of them for some girl you found on the street?"

"Well… I gave them the cheque, and wrote them each a very nice email, so-"

Cynthia cut him off, finally losing her patience. "Steven, you have _got _to be kidding me. This was literally _your _idea, and you've gone and done something completely different! Our relationships with these schools are important, you know. You've probably just insulted them!"

"Look, I'm sure there were no hard feelings-"

"Oh, _sure _there weren't, because you're _such _a people person," interjected Cynthia, bitterly.

"Even putting that aside, which in and of itself is hugely irresponsible, by the way," continued Anabel, "the plan, as _you _outlined, was to bring in talented young people from across the world. We agreed that that meant graduating seniors from top high schools. This girl has never even _been _to high school. How do you even know if she's qualified?"

"Oh, he doesn't," retorted Cynthia, "but the _brilliant _Steven Stone decided on a whim that she probably was, and as we all know he's _always _right. And if not, then no big deal, right? Daddy will just come swooping in with his trust fund and make everything better, like he always has. Just throw money at your problems until they disappear. That's the Stone family motto, right?"

Steven was about to respond, but Cynthia pressed on, livid now. "You are so _painfully _entitled it makes me sick. Time and time again, you demonstrate _complete _disregard for the work of others. Do you have any idea what went into making the applications, connecting with the schools, and getting administration on board and students enthusiastic all within _a week _because you pitched some crazy idea that you pulled out of your ass and waxed some sentimental drabble about it? Of course you don't, because why would you care? Someone else will handle it. We listened to you, we _trusted _you like fools, but at the end of the day you're just a wealthy bullshit artist."

Steven was so shell-shocked, he had no response. All he could manage was to turn to his other colleague for defense: "…Anabel?"

But she just sighed and shook her head. "I'm afraid I have to agree with Cynthia on this one. Steven, this was whimsical and irresponsible, even for you. Did you even clear this with security and administration? Does anyone even know who this girl is?"

Steven felt like he was being scolded by his mother. "I… Look, I was going to, I just-"

"Didn't think so…" finished Anabel. "Steven, what are we even doing here? There's an organized network of hunters stealing hundreds of thousands of Pokémon and selling them to god-knows-who, and we've all gone on a field trip around the world finding smart kids. I was skeptical about this plan from the start, but now I'm just praying we can recover from this stupidity. This is exactly why I didn't want you on the force… the International Police isn't some playground for rich kids and their fancy toys."

There was so much Steven wanted to say. He wanted to tell them how he saw in her eyes the same fire that he'd only ever seen in the eyes of his colleagues, that she was a perfect embodiment of how the great minds of tomorrow can come from any background, however humble, that Anabel of all people should understand that, that she was smarter than the vast majority of seniors from preppy high schools he'd interacted with. But… he just felt broken and hurt from the verbal lashings of the two.

So instead, he said nothing.

Anabel sighed. "Look, you've got about 7 hours of flight time left. Send some emails, and you'd better hope that god that they can clear everything in time without issues. You know how security can be. We'll talk about this when we're all back."

With that, she signed off, and Cynthia followed suit.

As Steven pulled out his laptop to begin drafting some emails, he just kept hoping that he hadn't made a mistake. But just thinking of everything he'd seen that this girl was capable of made him sure that he hadn't. Now, he could only hope that in time, the others would see that.

For now, one thing was certain: it was going to be a long flight back…

* * *

_May 23, 2018_

_8:54pm Japan Standard Time_

_International Police Special Forces HQ, Sevii Islands, Kanto_

After a long flight from Mumbai that landed in the Special Forces Sevii Islands Airfield, before a short boat ride to HQ, Rohan should have been exhausted. Perhaps he was, but the excitement of his arrival made any fatigue unnoticeable as he and Anabel made their way into the International Police Special Forces HQ.

As Anabel had explained to Rohan, the HQ served as the center of administration, command and operations for the entire Special Forces division of the International Police. A massive floating structure in the middle of the Sevii Islands Archipelago complete with viewing decks and a sprawling antenna system, it certainly looked the part; the entire structure was symmetrical and cone shaped, topped by one of the most intricate antennae Rohan had ever seen. Anabel explained to him that it was specifically designed by the region's top RF engineers to interface with every satellite in the hemisphere and monitor just about every frequency band in the area. Apparently, the floating structure was heavily inspired by the headquarters of something called the Aether Foundation in the Alola region.

Rohan could barely contain his awe as they passed through the heavy security of the main gates to enter the sprawling central plaza. The whole thing was surrounded by glass, exposing a clear view of the water and surrounding islands, with transparent elevator shafts extending all the way the ceiling. Each subsequent floor appeared roughly donut-shaped, thus providing a clear view from the plaza all the way to the antenna at the top of the structure. And it was quite a sight to behold.

Rohan was so mesmerized, he almost didn't hear Anabel as she called for him to follow her to the elevator.

Even the ride up was spectacular, with a view to the open waters on one side and the receding plaza on the other. They got off on the third floor and made their way to an office labeled "Phoebe Sato, Head Reconnaissance". As the door opened, the first thing Rohan saw was a man with metallic blue hair, a dark jacket and a red scarf- Steven Stone, Rohan presumed, addressing a short-haired woman in fully black attire, with two red flowers in her hair as the only color.

"Phoebe, once again, I can't thank you enough for suggesting this. You've single-handedly streamlined the entire security process; it could've taken days to get these three cleared at least if not for your clever workaround." He turned and smiled as he saw Rohan. "Speaking of the three, it looks like our last one has arrived. Rohan Advani, right? I've heard a lot about you." He extended his hand towards Rohan, which he grasped firmly.

"That's me. Steven Stone, if I'm not mistaken? Pleasure to finally meet you," he said.

"Likewise," replied Steven. Steven gestured to the three to his right: Two kids, whom he presumed to be Kevin Park and Maria Nuñez, were seated while a blonde woman in black attire stood to the side, looking slightly miffed but with a forced smile as Rohan turned in her direction. That must have been the legendary Cynthia.

"You three will have more time to get to know each other later. For now, we need to address the… erm, security concerns of your work here for the next week. Fortunately, my colleague Phoebe here has figured out a way to expedite that process."

The short-haired woman in black stepped forward and spoke. "Right. It's a little unorthodox and might feel a bit strange, but once we're done you guys can jump right into it."

She unclipped 3 Poké Balls and summoned 3 almost identical Pokémon; they were small, grey ghost-like creatures with what appeared to be zippers for mouths… eerie.

"These are my trusty Banette. They're going to help us place a simple hex on you three to directly ensure that you don't reveal anything about your work here to anyone outside Special Forces."

Rohan looked towards his two colleagues with some trepidation, which they evidently shared.

"Seriously, don't worry, it won't hurt a bit… probably," added Phoebe. That did little to calm his nerves. "I'd like each of you to step towards one of the Banette, facing it."

With some hesitation Rohan and the others obliged. Though small, the Banette was an intimidating creature, appearing to glare menacingly even at rest.

"Alright, we need to do this one at a time. Starting with you, Kevin, I need you each to say the phrase 'I will not speak of my work here to anyone outside Special Forces' to the Banette in front of you. Ready?"

Kevin looked somewhat confused and apprehensive, but he obliged. Facing the Banette, he recited the phrase. As soon as he finished, Phoebe snapped her fingers and the Banette's eyes glowed a menacing red. Kevin shuddered at what was presumably a foreign sensation, but otherwise looked fine.

"Good. Moving on." Maria did the same, also shuddering but without any obvious side effects.

Finally, it was Rohan's turn. He took a deep breath and recited the phrase. As soon as the Banette's eyes glowed red, Rohan realized that the eerie sensation of a presence in his mind was familiar. What was that move Mismagius had used… was it Spite? So, _that's _how this worked… apparently, the move was useful for more than just immobilization. There was a brief silence once he had finished.

"So… that's it then?" inquired Steven.

Phoebe nodded, smiling cheerfully. "Yup! You guys are all set now. Have fun!"

"Uh… great, thank you Phoebe," said Anabel. "Well then, let's make our way to General Tomori's office for a quick debrief about the situation. I know you guys are probably tired from the journey; after this meeting, we'll show you to your rooms and you can get some much-needed rest."

With that, she led them out of Phoebe's office.

* * *

_9:22pm Japan Standard Time_

As the six of them made their way from Phoebe's office to General Tomori's, Maria tried to garner what little information she could about her two colleagues, Kevin Park and Rohan Advani. They hadn't yet talked at any length, but she could surmise that they were both accomplished academics from prestigious high schools in their respective home cities. Despite all being roughly the same age, Maria concluded that they would likely have very little in common.

After taking the elevator to almost the very top of the headquarters, they arrived at an office labeled: "Izuku Tomori, Special Forces Strategic General". As they entered the room, a stern-looking old man looked up from his desk, no smile on his face as they took their places around his desk. Finally, he spoke.

"So, what is this, bring your kid to work day?"

Steven sighed. "Nice to see you too, General."

"Allow me to introduce Kevin Park, Rohan Advani and Maria Nuñez," interjected Anabel. "As we discussed, they'll be working with us for the next week. We just finished getting them security clearance, so hopefully we can discuss the situation with the hunters."

"Right. A cheerful topic," grunted Tomori. "Well, while you three were on your little field trip, things have gone from bad to worse. Over the past week, there have been three recorded strikes by them for a total of 60,000 additional stolen Pokémon, from the Johto Safari Zone, Mr. Backlot's Trophy Garden in Sinnoh, and the Mt. Chimney Preservation Area in Hoenn. They got the jump on us each time; the locations were not what our intelligence and predictions indicated, and the response teams we sent were too late. We had devoted most of our intelligence division to figuring out where they were shipping the Pokémon out from. In the end, we spot-checked a total of 147 outgoing shipments from the Lilycove Port and even raided the museum and all its facilities but found absolutely nothing."

He shook his head in frustration. "They're playing us like a fiddle, and the media is having a field day with it all. Not only, now, have we been consistently failing to put a stop to the hunting, but we've very publicly humiliated ourselves by storming the Lilycove museum to no avail. We were hoping to find some kind of hidden shipping and logging operation based on our intelligence, but now it seems that they very intentionally misled us. In fact, the only good news from the past week is that we haven't had any more casualties."

At this, Maria finally perked up. "You said… any _more _casualties?"

Cynthia cut in this time, shame in her voice. "About a week ago, before we sent out the applications to your schools, we attempted a sting operation with us three and a team of seven ace trainers on what we believed to be a convoy of stolen Pokémon. As it turned out, it was a trap, and the three of us barely escaped with our lives."

"Unfortunately, two of the seven ace trainers and the nine Pokémon they had between them weren't so lucky," continued Steven. "The convoy blew up with them and two of the five suspects still on board. We also couldn't get anything out of the other three in interrogation; either they really knew nothing, or they're very good liars."

There was a brief moment of silence as that sunk in, before General Tomori finally spoke, addressing Maria and her two colleagues.

"Well… now you understand the severity of our situation. This has been going on for far too long, and while personally I doubt you three will be able to do much, there you have it."

He evidently didn't have much more than that to say. Not only was the situation a total mess, but this General Tomori clearly had no faith that they would be able to make any sort of difference. Maria wondered why they had even bothered bringing in the three of them; what _would _they be able to do? Racking her brain, she couldn't think of any way to be helpful. Despite all the new and incredible experiences she had had in the past 24 hours alone, she was starting to feel small and useless.

Evidently, though, that wasn't the case for her two colleagues.

"Okay, just so I understand," began Kevin, as all eyes turned to him, "they've been stealing Pokémon from various locations across Japan, and we haven't been able to predict from where in time?"

"Uh… yes, that's the central issue," said Tomori. "Intelligence is being given the runaround. When there's some kind of lead, which is rare, it's always false. When there isn't, we try to predict where they'll strike and heighten security at all potential target sites, but they always seem to get the spots we don't think of."

"One of our running hypotheses," continued Steven, "is that they've studied our strategic decision making, and are basically just outplaying us. Since most of Special Forces is comprised of trainers who have competed in the Pokémon League, it's possible that they've studied many of our battles and garnered data on our strategies from that."

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "To be clear, we all think it's a bit far-fetched, but it's certainly… a possibility, I suppose."

"Personally, I think there's a lot of merit to that," countered Kevin. "From what you've described, they must be doing something quite out of the ordinary to have had so much success. Hypothetically, then, how much relevant data could they have access to?"

By this point, everyone seemed caught off guard by the sudden shift in the dynamics of the room; suddenly, Kevin was taking charge. Steven managed a response.

"Um… Well, most of us have competed in one or many of the annual league conferences, for one. All of those battles are televised and recorded- fully available to the public. Most of us also compete at official league battle facilities, like the Battle Frontier, so trainer statistics and milestone battle recordings are also freely available."

"…and, for top trainers and league finalists like us, there are all kinds of strategy breakdowns and analyses available," continued Anabel. "Plus, a lot of the Pokémon Academies from which we find most of our ace trainers have well-advertised teaching philosophies and publish coursework and accolades of their students. And that's just scratching the surface… now that I think about it, there really is a lot available."

"Fine, but that's no surprise," countered Tomori. "What pertinence does this have to our investigation? And what could they possibly do with all that data anyway?" As he began to sigh and roll his eyes, Rohan spoke.

"Machine Learning, maybe."

Now, all eyes turned to him as he continued.

"I'm just thinking out loud, but… the field has been rapidly advancing in the past few years, particularly in the USA, and powerful processors with AI and ML accelerator hardware built-in are freely available. It wouldn't be out of the question for someone to have fed a neural network all this data- combined with some computer vision to parse battle data from recordings, which I'm sure someone has developed an API for- and produced comprehensive models for most of the trainers in Special Forces. Then you're just left with a reduction problem…"

"…express when and where to capture and transport Pokémon _in terms of _a Pokémon battle!" finished Kevin. "Personally, I'm no expert on battling, but if you could empirically categorize certain playstyles as offensive, defensive, anticipatory, or what have you, you could map those to equivalent decisions in their hunting."

"Right!" The two of them looked enthusiastic now as Rohan continued. "Then, you could just weight the strategies of given trainers based on their perceived level of authority within Special forces- which is particularly beneficial, since it sounds like there's a lot more data available the further up the ranks you go- and, given a set of previous decisions made by Special Forces and some input stimuli, it could give you probable future decisions."

Kevin nodded his head in agreement. "Combine that with some clever misdirection and false leads that would also be fed into the system, and you've got a detailed, predictive model of the entire Special Forces division which could enable criminal activity with impunity if used correctly. And that seems to be what we have." He turned to General Tomori. "It would take a great deal of processing power, as well as multiple layers of algorithms and learning networks and possibly years of patience, but I think it could be possible. And if that's what we're facing, we'll need a different approach to win." He paused for a moment, before turning to Maria, catching her off guard. "Maria, right? What do you think?"

"Oh! Um… it sounds good, I think."

Tomori sat there for a moment, dumbfounded, as the 3 champions looked equally dazed.

By this point, Maria's head was spinning. She had already submitted to the notion that she would be of no use, but these two (who had presumably never even met) had just proposed a detailed theory on how this network of hunters might be operating in a matter of minutes. She wasn't even sure if she understood the whole thing, given how hard she had already been working to follow the explanation of the situation from before, what with all the conversation being in English. Any pride she had for doing so well up until this point was quickly evaporating as it dawned on her how intimidatingly clever her colleagues were compared to her. She sat uncomfortably in her chair, suddenly wishing that she was back in the machine shop with Papa- at least there, she knew what she was doing.

Cynthia finally spoke. "So… if this is right, what would you suggest we do?"

"Well, we should probably fight fire with fire, right?" replied Kevin, turning to Rohan.

"Right. We should try to do something similar ourselves- take all the data of the past hunter strikes and all the false leads they've dropped, in addition to anything we have on when Pokémon were shipped after the fact, and see if we can predict their predictions using our own neural network, if that makes any sense. We don't have nearly as much data as this theoretical system, nor would we be able to make something as complex under the time constraints, but we can compensate for uncertainties with our sheer numbers and ability to cover multiple bases at once- we shouldn't have to be as precise as they need to be."

Kevin turned back to Tomori. "So, I guess that's what we could spend the next week doing. We would need all that data, and access to computers with all the latest machine learning and data science tools installed. Does that sound good, or did you have something else in mind for us?"

After a brief pause, Anabel spoke.

"That sounds good to me. General, what do you think? Or did you not follow?"

At this, Tomori looked offended and flustered, but it did little to hide his obvious confusion (to which Maria could sadly relate).

"Don't be absurd, of course I followed!" said Tomori defensively. "Yes, you can go ahead and… do that. Sure. Get them what they need, as long as there's no security violation."

Anabel nodded. "Great. I'll introduce you three to Shiro, our head of IT. She can get you squared away with whatever you need. I'll also introduce you to Takeshi, one of our ace trainers; he'll be watching you guys this week."

As they nodded, Maria felt her resolve tightening; she was going to find a way to be useful this week, one way or another. Steven had brought her here for a reason, and she had never been the type to back away from a challenge. It wasn't going to be easy, but she was going to make Steven and her father proud. The past 24 hours had already proven to her that the impossible could become a reality- so why stop there?

* * *

_10:03pm Japan Standard Time_

Kevin felt ready to go. Barely an hour into his internship with the International Police (if one could even call it that), he already felt that he had found some footing and a path forward. This Rohan Advani was clearly good with computers and knew a thing or two about Machine Learning, which complemented Kevin's analytical skills nicely. It had been a long time since he'd tackled such a complex problem head-on like that, and his mind was already whirring away with possibilities.

That Maria girl looked pretty down though. She hadn't said much, but from what she did, Kevin surmised that English was probably a foreign language to her. She was probably doing her best just to keep up with the conversation, which hadn't exactly been straightforward and simple, so he could hardly blame her for having little to contribute. As he wondered what sort of school she might have come from, he began to wonder whether it was even an English-speaking school at all. This girl was certainly enigmatic, but just like the hunters problem, Kevin was sure he'd figure her out in time.

Walking further down the hall, the six of them made their way to an office labeled: "Shiro Akihiko, Head of IT".

As they entered, a short woman with oversized spectacles hastily moved two large monitors mounted on pivots to either side of her desk and stood up from her seat. "Anabel, Steven, Cynthia, good to see you guys! Are these the three temps?"

"Good to see you too, Shiro," replied Anabel. "And yes, this is Kevin, Maria and Rohan," she said, pointing to each of them in turn. Shiro smiled as she made her way in front of her desk to shake each of their hands. "My name's Shiro, and I manage the computer network of the Headquarters. I've heard a lot about you; nice to finally meet you guys!"

"Likewise," replied Kevin, as the other two nodded their heads.

"Right, then," she said as she clasped her hands together, "time to get you guys some laptops."

With that, she went to a cabinet in the corner of the office and fiddled around clumsily, pulling out various cables and connectors until she brought forward three slim, sleek-looking laptops. They each took one, thanking her as they did. It wasn't long before Rohan was tapping away at it, pulling up all kinds of specifications.

"Ohoho, a Spitfire c5b octa-core SoC with 32 gigs of RAM? That thing's top of the line! It's what, like, a 5nm manufacturing process or something? I've never seen this laptop model."

This was all double-dutch to Kevin, but clearly not to Shiro. "Well, I see at least one of you appreciates the finer things in life," said Shiro with a chuckle as Cynthia visibly rolled her eyes. "It's in a custom chassis from Silph Co. developed specifically for the International Police. One of the perks of being governmentally funded to stop high-profile crimes all over the world. It's a convertible too and works with an active stylus."

Interrupting their computer hardware geek-fest by clearing his throat, Kevin turned to Rohan. "Don't we need to ask about some software?"

"Oh! Right. Shiro, do these laptops by chance have development software preloaded? Specifically, any Machine Learning stuff like TensorFlow or something?" he asked.

"Ooh, Machine Learning? Fancy…" replied Shiro as she pondered for a moment. "We don't have any Machine Learning software pre-installed, but the systems are running a Unix-based OS, so you should be able to install GNU development tools, Java, MATLAB, Python and whatever else you need. I'll send you the instructions to do that. As for TensorFlow, that should work too… Let me just compile a version for the specific Kernel, and I'll send that to you. That sound good?"

"Perfect! Thank you so much, Shiro," said Rohan.

"Not a problem. Oh, and by the way, if you guys are doing some heavy computing, it might benefit you to interface with the Headquarters' mainframe; it's typically running a lot of background tasks to keep Special Forces running, but should have a few dozen cores at a time to spare. I've been working on a tool to send it processing tasks via the Kernel over the secure HQ network. I'll send that to you too, so you can give it a try."

"Wow, that would help hugely!"

At this point, Steven stepped in. "Alright, sounds like you guys are all set up. Should we show them to where they'll be working?"

Shiro stiffened. "Right! That."

She scuttled to the side of the office and unlocked a metal door with keys from somewhere in her pockets before swinging the door open and turning on the lights inside. They stepped forward to get a look. It was a very simple room, with a conference table in the center, some fixtures and cables on it, and some chairs around it and to the side. There also looked to be three sleeping bags at the end of the room, as well as some cobbled-together sheets and pillows.

"Unfortunately, one of the things in short supply at HQ is space, but you guys can use the small conference room adjoined to my office. That way you can bug me if you need anything," she said with a smile. "There's built-in ethernet, some lights, some chairs and some sleeping bags. I also typically spend the nights here; comes with the IT job. You can use the bathroom connected to the other side of my office- there's a small shower."

Kevin nodded. "Well, that should be all we need. Again, thank you."

Suddenly, the door to the office swung open as an athletic young man who looked to be in his early 20s burst in. He was clad in a similar black uniform to the one Phoebe was wearing and had six Poké Balls clipped to his belt.

"Sorry I'm late! I was at the Johto Safari Zone trying to get some leads, but I flew back as fast as I could."

"Don't worry about it, Takeshi, you're timing is perfect," said Steven, before turning to the three. "Kevin, Rohan, Maria, I'd like you to meet Takeshi Fujiwara, one of our squad leaders at Special Forces. Takeshi, these are the three students who will be working with us over the next week."

He sized the three of them up for a moment. "Nice to meet you guys," he eventually replied, before turning back to Steven. "So, you had another assignment for me?"

Cynthia perked up, glaring at Steven with bewilderment on her face. "Wait, Steven, you didn't tell him!?"

Steven flinched. "Cynthia, we'll… let's talk about this later. Takeshi, you will be the designated security person for these three over the next week. You'll sit with them in that room as they work and ensure that everything goes smoothly. You'll also be sleeping in your office; just for the week, you understand."

Takeshi's face began to redden. "Steven, you… with all due respect, you're benching me!? I mean, I know it's been a slow couple of weeks with the investigation, but I swear, my team is really starting to get somewhere. Just give me a little longer and I'll-"

"Takeshi, you misunderstand me," said Steven, cutting him off. "I'm not trying to 'bench' you. Right now, I just need someone I trust to watch over those three to meet protocol. I chose you because I know you're the right person for the job. You can still command your squad remotely."

Takeshi looked like he was about to fight back, but just sighed and lowered his head. "Alright. Yes sir, I understand."

"Great, that's settled then," said Steven. "Now, you three can go ahead and set your stuff down in the conference room. It's been a long day and I'm sure you're all exhausted. So, Cynthia, Anabel and I will head out, and we'll see you at some point tomorrow. If you need anything, let Shiro or Takeshi know. Good night, guys."

With that, the three champions left, beginning to bicker amongst themselves as they did, leaving the three students in the room with a smiley Shiro and a dejected Takeshi.

"So, do you guys want to shower and get to sleep?" asked Shiro.

Kevin could hardly think about sleep. His mind was still buzzing with ideas that he just needed to sketch out and mull over; the layers of this system the hunters could be using, and how to go about approximating and predicting it. He looked to Rohan and saw the same activity in his eyes; he was ready to go, too.

"Actually," said Kevin, "I was thinking we could just get started."


	6. Chapter 6

_May 14, 2018_

_6:35pm Japan Standard Time_

_East China Sea_

Takeshi sat perched upon his trusty Pidgeot as he and six others hovered over the calm waters of the East China Sea, the lack of wind doing little to ease his nerves as he awaited the signal. Finally, it came:

"This is Command to Squad Beta Leader. Strike Squad Alpha is approaching the target. Speed is 271 Knots, ETA is 45 seconds. Stand by, over."

He turned to the others to the right of him, all lined up at fixed distances behind him. "Alright guys, less than 30 seconds until we go!"

Perched atop various Pokémon themselves, they nodded, faces a mix of determination and trepidation. The two youngest, Akko and Miki, looked particularly nervous. At just 19 and 20 years old, they were riding a Flygon and a Xatu, respectively. Miki tapped a pattern into her Xatu's neck, whose eyes ceased glowing a bright blue. That Xatu was a jack of all trades, and its use of Psychic to cancel out incoming radio waves from radar was just one example. Despite her age, she was rapidly becoming one of the team's most valuable assets.

"ETA is 35 seconds. Over."

Takeshi pulled the binoculars from his vest to finally make out the low-flying Ground Effect Vehicle that they were tracking, with a hole blasted in its side, roughly 500 meters directly ahead and 4 kilometers to the left. As it zipped to the right along the horizon, he could barely make out a scuffle inside. It wouldn't be long now before it crossed his flight line, and then the six others.

The tension was heightening. "25 seconds."

They would have to be extremely precise. With exactly 15 seconds left, they would accelerate down their line and then bank sharply to the right before boarding through the hole. Bank too soon, and they would miss it. Too late, and they would slam into it as it whipped by them at over 200 knots. But this is what they had trained for.

"20 seconds."

Takeshi held up a hand now, eyes dead ahead, the others presumably right behind him and ready to go.

"19."

He dropped one finger.

"18."

Then another.

"17."

Another.

"16."

He gulped, as his index finger was the only one left.

"15, begin."

"Go!" he yelled, lowering his hand as Pidgeot accelerated forward. He felt a strong gust of wind push blow up behind him- Xatu's Tailwind, presumably- as his Pidgeot used Agility to pick up speed.

"10 seconds."

Wind rushing past him as Pidgeot raced forward, the fast-moving target was coming into view now. His six colleagues held their formation tightly as they sought to evenly match each other's speeds.

"5."

This was the crucial moment. With the target just to their left and ahead of them, they would have to bank in the next two seconds to maintain speed and accelerate at the final moment before boarding.

"4."

He held out his hand to the right.

"3, bank."

He snapped it down and Pidgeot veered sharply to the right as the others followed suit in a cascaded order, putting them neatly in a line with Takeshi in front almost parallel to the trajectory of the target but with a slight angle towards it. The target was behind them now but moving about 90 knots faster. To make up that speed delta, they would need one more trick.

"2."

The target was rushing forward to meet them at their left. As soon as Takeshi caught a glimpse of it in his periphery, he tapped another pattern into Pidgeot's side, hoping that the others had made it. If all went well, he was supposed to be the last one.

"1."

For a fraction of a moment, the target appeared about to zoom by him, but as Pidgeot tucked in its wings (which now glowed white) with a sharp snap it appeared to stand almost still with the hole just to the left. Within a second, he veered his Pidgeot left into the hole, then leapt off and returned it to its ball in one swift motion. The others had landed all within a second before him and thankfully appeared unscathed.

The one move that all seven of their aerial Pokémon were required to have was Quick Attack. The most ubiquitous Instantaneous Acceleration move, or Priority move as it was more colloquially known, it allowed a Pokémon to almost instantaneously accelerate to anywhere from 25% to 75% faster than they were already travelling, depending on how fast they were going and how well they used the move. It could only be held for 1.5 seconds at the absolute maximum before air resistance kicked back in and the slipstream propulsion (which still wasn't fully understood) went away, but provided a huge tactical advantage not just in combat but also in pursuit.

Once inside the ship, Takeshi and his six colleagues were greeted by Strike Squad Alpha- the legendary Anabel, Steven and Cynthia- who had already subdued five men and their three Pokémon. Returning theirs, they began to make their way down to the cargo hold and before long were out of view. Alas, Squad Beta was just the cleanup crew.

Felix, Akko and Miki began restraining the five men with handcuffs and rope, returning the three enemy Pokémon to their balls and confiscating them as they did. Meanwhile, Maseo, their pilot, made his way to the flight instruments to begin stabilizing it and rerouting it back to Lilycove. Charlotte and Iida, their structural experts, summoned their Magmortar and Magnezone to close the hole blasted in the side of the hull. But they were quickly interrupted as Anabel's voice urgently came through their earpieces:

"It was a trap, evacuate now!"

Despite her lack of specificity, it was clear to all of them that the ship was going to explode. The seven trainers sprang into action, abandoning whatever they were doing. On Takeshi's command, Charlotte and Iida returned their Pokémon and immediately bailed out. That left five of them, with five constrained suspects. He didn't need to say anything for them to understand how this would work.

As they tacitly identified which suspects they would each carry, they brought forth their flying Pokémon, which each had enough strength to lift the extra weight in addition to their own trainers. But something was clearly wrong as Maseo cried out in pain. Apparently, one of the five men had taken advantage of the momentary confusion to shank him in the leg before he was restrained. Despite being quickly subdued by the others and their Pokémon, the damage was done. Takeshi gritted his teeth.

"Akko, Miki, Felix, get out now!"

Suspects in tow, Felix and Akko made their way to the opening, but Miki stood in defiance.

"I can bear more load with Psychic, _you _get out!"

"Miki, don't even think about-"

"_Go!" _she cried, as her Xatu's eyes flared a bright blue and Takeshi found himself and his Pidgeot (with another suspect) hurled out of the ship's opening back into the open evening air, the doomed ship careening past him. "MIKI!" he cried out.

But it was too late.

The ship erupted in a massive fireball, and tears welled up in his eyes as his Pidgeot expertly caught him, accelerating away from the flaming wreckage on the surface of the water. "NOOOO!" He wanted to go back. He wanted to believe that his eyes deceived him, or that maybe, somehow, someone could survive an explosion like that. But deep down, he knew that he had failed. This was his squad. He was to look out for each and every one of them. A piece of him died with that wreckage. And now, he knew that he would never be the same again.

* * *

_May 23, 2018_

_10:59pm Japan Standard Time_

_International Police Special Forces HQ, Sevii Islands, Kanto_

Takeshi Fujiwara had been a proud trainer for as long as he could remember. It was almost necessary to have graduated top of his class from the Saffron University Trainer Academy, earn all 8 Kanto Gym Badges within 6 months, go on to complete police training, join the International Police, and then rise the ranks to become a Squad Captain all by the age of 23. Ever the go-getter, anyone who knew him would say that once he set his mind to something, he wouldn't let anything get in his way. The past week hadn't changed that; if anything, that fateful day had strengthened his resolve.

Needless to say, then, he wasn't too pleased about being relegated to babysitting duty for three teenagers during this crucial time.

As they jabbered incessantly about where each of them came from, what their lives were like, and occasionally some technical jargon about some Machine Learning system, Takeshi mostly tuned them out to focus his thoughts on his squad. Down to four until the higher-ups would have time to reshuffle people, it wasn't a lot, but enough to do some meaningful work. As Steven had said, he could still command them remotely, but for situations where he wouldn't be able to, he figured it would be best to put Iida Yuuki in charge as the most senior member. He had confidence in his abilities. As for what they would do, they could probably conduct surprise searches of some of the shadiest shipping companies around Lilycove and nearby coastal cities; those recently stolen Pokémon couldn't have gotten very far. He would have to look into exactly which ones, but with a smirk he felt sure that this would accomplish much more than a handful of airheaded academic teenagers tackling this like some kind of design project. He was so absorbed in his thoughts, he hardly even noticed as one of them tried to get his attention.

"Um, Mister? Takeshi, was it?" It was that Korean kid. Annoyingly chatty… what was his name, Kevin?

"Can I help you?" he answered bluntly.

Kevin continued unphased. "Well, we just thought we should get to know each other, since we'll be spending all this time together. Where are you from, Takeshi?"

He fought hard not to visibly roll his eyes. "Saffron City."

"Wow, that's really cool. I'm from Seoul, Korea. Rohan here is from Mumbai, India, and Maria is from Guanajuato, Mexico."

"Cool, good to know." It wasn't. But Kevin continued.

"So, what's it like there? There must be tons of Pokémon. Oh, and wasn't there a powerful Gym Leader there too?"

"Yes and yes. Got my first badge from her."

Kevin perked up. "Your _first _badge? How many do you have?"

"Eight," Takeshi answered flatly.

"Wow," replied Kevin. "I can't say I'm an expert, but from what I've heard very few people are able to do that. You must be a really strong trainer- though, I suppose that's to be expected given your position. Did they recruit you, then? You probably had to go through some training, but certainly they would have-"

Takeshi had had enough. "Kid," he finally said, cutting him off, "none of this is your concern. I'm here doing my job, so you focus on yours."

Kevin seemed taken aback. "Well… I'm sorry, I just think that when people have to work together, it helps when they get to know-"

This time, the Indian boy interjected. "Kevin, chill. He's clearly not interested. Let's just get back to what we were doing." Reluctantly, then, Kevin backed down, finally leaving Takeshi alone. At least one of them had some sense.

Takeshi checked his watch: 11:16pm. With a sigh, he wondered just how late these three kids intended to keep working. What an inexhaustible bunch…

###

_11:16pm Japan Standard Time_

Kevin felt surrounded by enigmas. First there was Maria, whom he was beginning to better understand; her background was very interesting, and really put his and Rohan's lives in perspective. Now, there was Takeshi; was he simply just that cold and callous? Maybe that's how he managed to do so much by such a young age… but Kevin wasn't sure. Perhaps there was a traumatic experience involved…

Of course, he couldn't spend too much time with his attention directed away from the biggest enigma of all, and the reason he was here: these hunters and their strategic success. It was a thrilling problem, and it had Kevin totally absorbed as he was beginning to get a sense of the big picture. As he sketched out the layers of the theoretical system they might be using, he couldn't help but marvel at how much work it would have taken to put together:

First, they would have needed data on the hierarchy within the Special Forces division; not publicly available but could be pieced together from bits of leaked information and some clever deduction. To do it at scale, though, would have taken an entire scraping algorithm with natural language processing in and of itself. Next, once they had data on the hierarchy of the division and each member's influence, they would have needed to scrape data on all of these individuals in all kinds of forms: text, video, charts, images, report cards, trainer ID's… all of this would have had to be processed and reduced to a strategic model that emulated their battling style. The amount of computer imaging and language processing needed, albeit probably in the form of open-source libraries, was astounding to contemplate.

But it didn't stop there. Then, they would have needed some sort of clever translation layer that expressed tactical decisions- when and where to strike, which Pokémon to steal and how many, when and where to drop subtle false leads- in terms of a Pokémon battle. Once this translation was done, the next 'move' of the International Police could be predicted through a weighted aggregation of those statistical models, thereby putting them at a huge tactical advantage.

It was a very specific schematic that he and Rohan had come up with, but the more they pondered it (and the more Kevin scrolled through the case history), the more it seemed like exactly the sort of confounding enemy they were facing. But, something about their entire operation still perplexed him.

And so, leaving Rohan to continue his experimentation in Python, he exited the conference room to find Shiro still working at her desk. As the door opened, she jolted upright and turned her attention to him.

"Sorry Shiro, I didn't mean to disturb you…" he said, to which Shiro shook her head. "Not at all, Kevin. Did you need help with something?"

"Yeah, actually," said Kevin. "Do you have a moment?"

* * *

Kevin continued to pore over the myriad of scientific papers that were splayed out across Shiro's multiple monitors, ranging from biology to compression technology engineering.

"I see," said Kevin, still deep in thought. "So _that's _why they can't just capture all the stolen Pokémon in Poké Balls."

"Right," replied Shiro. "It's a very strange and specific biomechanical phenomenon, but in this case, it works to our advantage. If not for this, we would have a _much _bigger problem on our hands- and that's saying a lot."

Kevin chuckled. "Definitely. Well, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, but… that clears up a lot. Thank you, Shiro."

She smiled. "Anytime, Kevin. Sounds like you guys are getting some good work done- but make sure to get some sleep! It'd be a real shame if you crashed after just the first night."

Kevin nodded. "You got it. Thanks again," he said as he turned back towards the conference room.

Despite not growing up in a 'Pokémon-rich' region of the world, Kevin had been quite confident that he at least understood Pokémon compression at a surface level. But apparently, it was all far more complicated (and interesting) than he had ever imagined. It still wasn't fully understood, but biologists had long since theorized that Pokémon- down to their cellular structure- evolved (in the technical, not colloquial sense) with mechanisms for miniaturization and suspended animation as a form of self-preservation.

The most popular theories suggested that the cellular structure of Pokémon was initially designed so that they could suspend animation at any time; this way, as long as they were kept safe and at a reasonable temperature, they could survive indefinitely without food or water, and even potentially last for eons through extinction events (as certain 'fossil Pokémon' were thought to have done). In recent millennia with the advent of humans, however, that particular ability disappeared from most species. But that cellular structure remained and gave rise to a new mechanism; miniaturization. Every single cell in a Pokémon's body had to contain a 'master' strand of RNA that described placement and composition of every other cell in the Pokémon's body, as well as any inorganic materials necessary for the creature's structure.

By tapping into the energy of the vacuum, an entire Pokémon could re-assimilate from a single cell in exactly the condition it was in prior to dissociation, after any amount of time – provided a sufficiently large output of energy to kickstart the process. This was the job of a Poké Ball: to store the energy expelled upon miniaturization, and then use that for re-assimilation. But for any of this to work, a Pokémon's miniaturization mechanism had to be active, and it would only be active under certain circumstances. This was why being a trainer and capturing Pokémon was so hard, and why deploying Poké Balls en masse for poaching was much harder than it sounded to a layperson.

But in the past decade, some enterprising individuals found a way to forcibly activate that mechanism – or at least, the first part of it. By blasting the Pokémon with electromagnetic radiation of a very specific frequency in the x-ray range (a resonant frequency of the protein believed to be responsible for the mechanism), the miniaturization mechanism could be partially activated; suspending activity throughout the Pokémon's body, but not dissociating down to a single cell. This could leave a Pokémon in a state of suspended animation with no warning and minimal effort. Realizing the implications of this technology, the Pokémon Association quickly banned the use and production of it, but intelligence reports suggest that this is what the Hunters have been using.

Of course, that meant that the Hunters still had to traffic all those Pokémon at full size. And yet, even with such a disadvantage, they had still managed to elude the International Police for months on end. Kevin didn't know who the mastermind behind all of this was, but he did know that if they found a way to forcibly trigger the rest of the mechanism, nothing would be able to stand in their way.

* * *

_11:18pm Japan Standard Time_

Once the only talkative person had left the room to 'clarify something' with Shiro (as dubious as that sounded), Rohan found himself in an awkward silence with Maria and Takeshi. As he continued to re-acquaint himself with scikit learn, principal component analysis, and setting up data pipelines between programs, the silence became increasingly deafening and he felt compelled to ease the tension in the room.

"So… Maria. You, uh… do any programming?"

Maria appeared to take a moment to snap back to reality and process the question before answering.

"Some… mostly MiraCAD for machining. But I try teach myself some Java… but very small."

She seemed flustered. It was late at night, and they were all weary from their travels. English wasn't Maria's first language, and the mental exertion of keeping up with it all combined with her fatigue was clearly taking a toll.

"We're all pretty tired, huh? It's probably the jetlag… give it a few days and we'll be good as new."

Maria visibly wracked her brain. "Jet… lag?"

"Oh, it's… you know when you get off a long flight and land in a different time zone?"

Rohan had to stop himself from facepalming. Of course she didn't, what was he thinking?

"Erm… anyway, your body just needs time to adjust. No need to worry." He smiled, hoping that as time went on, she would cheer up a little. Even if she didn't have the same sorts of skills as him or Kevin, she was very impressive in her own right from what Rohan understood, and could probably do things that neither he nor Kevin could begin to understand. Her skills would certainly come in handy at some point, he figured. In the meantime, what mattered most was that she feel valued and not alienated.

He sighed. If only he were better at doing that…

* * *

_11:24pm Japan Standard Time_

After spending the past few minutes wrapping her mind around this so-called 'jet lag' while Rohan tapped away at his keyboard and Takeshi seemed lost in his phone, Maria was feeling useless and thoroughly frustrated. Clearly, nothing of worth was going to be accomplished sitting here with Rohan as he worked on something Maria could hardly understand, so she began to ponder what else she could do.

So… there was a group of hunters poaching and trafficking Pokémon and using convoys of some sort to transport them away. Well, convoys were just big machines, and she at least felt more comfortable around machines. Maybe that was worth looking into?

"Um… Takeshi?" she asked.

"Hm?" He didn't even look up from his phone.

"These hunters… they use convoys, yes? Can I see one?"

Finally, he stopped what he was doing and looked at her. There was something in his eyes… pain? He took a deep breath.

"Alright. I'll take you to see one of the convoys, just for a bit."

Just then, Kevin walked back into the room, presumably from a conversation with Shiro. Without a word, Takeshi took Maria's hand and led her out of the room, past Kevin.

"Huh? Where are you-"

Takeshi cut him off. "Just stay put, kid. We'll be back soon."

* * *

_11:36pm Japan Standard Time_

_International Police Holding Facility, ?, Kanto, Japan_

Maria's second time flying atop a Pokémon had been no less terrifying than the first, but also no less exhilarating. The wind whipping past her hair on that cool summery evening over the ocean did much to reinvigorate her senses. Before long, they touched down on a dimly lit metal structure in the middle of the ocean. It wasn't nearly as big as headquarters, but the iron support beams and sparse construction-grade lighting gave it an imposing look.

"Well, here we are. Thanks, Pidgeot," said Takeshi as he returned the large bird Pokémon to its ball. "Now, follow me."

They approached a thick metal door. Takeshi took out a key card and swiped a small scanner to the side, causing the gate to groan as the door slid open. Maria gulped, as they made their way inside.

They continued down dimly lit corridors and metal stairs.

"What… is this place?" asked Maria, finally.

"Well, it used to be a massive oil rig about 10 years ago before it got shut down," replied Takeshi. "Now, it's an unregistered holding facility for, uh… 'larger' evidence acquired by the International Police."

Right on cue, he slid open another iron door and switched on the overhead halogen lights to reveal a massive machine that looked like a cross between a boat and a plane – not that Maria had seen many of either in person.

"Wow… it's huge!" she managed.

"It's a Shenlong KCU105-GEV," said Takeshi. "One of the most common short-haul freighters used out in the East China Sea, and what we believe to be the convoy of choice for these hunters. This one was captured just off the coast of Shanghai about a month ago. Intelligence was able to determine that it had been carrying stolen Pokémon, but by the time we got there, they were long gone…"

Maria looked towards Takeshi. He was taking deep breaths and looked troubled just by being here. There was something he wasn't telling her.

"Takeshi… are you okay?"

He suddenly stiffened, caught off guard. "Hm? Yeah, why wouldn't I be? So, I'll give you about 10 minutes to look around, and then we'll head out. Does that sound okay?"

"Sure…" said Maria, unconvinced.

As she walked around the outside of the vehicle, her mind was beginning to piece together how such a machine might work. It was propped up by numerous support beams so that the four massive turbine engines attached to a streamlined leg jutting out from the bottom was just about suspended over the floor. Those must have been what produced the thrust – a lot of it, presumably. And judging by the shape of it, they were probably submerged as the rest of the craft skimmed over the surface of the water.

To the side was a metal ladder leading inside the cargo hold. Once she reached inside, she found herself surprised by how big it was – it must have taken up almost all of the body of the ship. By her reckoning, it could probably hold about 1000 or so creatures the size of Takeshi's bird. At the other end of the cargo hold, she found a small door opening to a very cramped room with a mess of pumps and gauges, as well as a slim ladder leading up to what looked like a rest area with two beds tucked in the corner, as well as cabins for various supplies. The door at the end revealed a surprisingly cramped and unassuming cockpit with six seats, a mess of buttons, dials and panels, and windows on all sides. It amazed her that such a large, powerful craft was controlled by such mundane looking equipment.

Back outside, she decided to take a closer look at the turbine engines. Clearly, the mass of pumps she saw near the cargo hold circulated some sort of fuel, but confusingly, there didn't seem to be any space in the craft for a fuel tank.

"Takeshi?" she asked, as he approached her from the other end of the massive storage room. "Where is, uh… fuel?"

"Ah, right. There actually isn't one. That's part of what makes this model so popular," said Takeshi.

Had she heard him right? There _wasn't _a fuel tank?

Seeing her confusion, Takeshi continued. "Now, I'm no engineer, but as I understand, the engines siphon hydrogen from the water, pump it up to be recombined with oxygen from the air, and then use the heat from that to drive themselves. There are also solar panels along the wings and a battery to get them spinning. Something like that, anyway."

Maria nodded slowly. What a fascinating machine. They certainly didn't have anything like it back in Guanajuato. Just by being here, she felt like she was learning so much. Now hopefully she would be able to do something useful with what she'd learnt.

Takeshi cleared his throat. "Right, well, we should probably be heading back now. Don't want to worry anyone. Oh, and, probably don't mention this little excursion to any of the higher-ups, okay?"

Maria chuckled. "Okay, Takeshi."

* * *

_11:54pm Japan Standard Time_

_International Police Special Forces HQ, Sevii Islands, Kanto_

"So, how was your trip?" asked Kevin.

"Um, good, I think," said Maria.

"Yeah, yeah, you kids keep quiet about this, alright? I don't need the higher-ups on my back over some nonsense."

Kevin smirked. "You're alright, Takeshi."

Takeshi rolled his eyes. "Just don't get used to it."

"So," asked Rohan. "Did you learn anything useful?"

"Maybe…" said Maria, still deep in thought. "I need to think more about it."

"Oh, well… okay. Let us know if you think of anything useful. It's late, and Kevin and I already got showered, so you can go ahead." He smiled.

"Alright. One minute, then."

* * *

_May 24, 2018_

_12:05am Japan Standard Time_

Eventually, it dawned on Maria that she had wasted a full 10 minutes marveling at the bathroom. Even though it was a police station bathroom, it was immaculately well-kept, well-equipped and completely unlike anything from back home. She couldn't even see any of the plumbing, the toilet had a comfy-looking seat and an array of buttons, and the shower head had a series of settings. Realizing she was keeping her colleagues waiting, she quickly got showered, changed into her pajamas, and returned to the conference room.

"Sorry about that… you are still working?" she asked. The excitement from the day was beginning to wear off and the exhaustion was setting in, but somehow those two were still tapping away.

Takeshi yawned. "Well, I'm off to bed. Try not to leave the room until morning, but if you need to, let me know. You can just reach me on Jabber."

Rohan pulled up something on his computer and nodded. "Huh, neat, it's already set up for us. Okay, 'night Takeshi."

"I'll see you three in the morning, I guess. Get some sleep soon." With that, he left.

"So, Maria," said Rohan after a brief silence. "Nice… pajamas."

Maria looked down and her face reddened. She was wearing the pajamas with little Rowlets on them that Papa had got for her 12th birthday. Somehow, they still fit her, and they were very cozy, but until now she hadn't given thought to how mature they might look on a 17-year-old girl.

"That's not what I meant!" said Rohan hastily. "Really, they're… cute. Uh, not in a weird way, I mean-"

Kevin started laughing. "No, don't let me stop you, Rohan. You're killing it."

Rohan's eyes narrowed. "Oh, please, at least I'm trying to make some sort of conversation. _You, _on the other hand, only seem interested in your conversation with…" he tapped away at his keyboard. "Cecelia Kim?"

Now, Kevin's face reddened. "Dude, did you just hack into my phone!?"

Rohan smirked. "Nope, I've just been capturing incoming and outgoing packets from your phone, which is connected to the unsecured guest network. You've got to check out some of the networking features they've got here, it's really-"

"Very cool but _quit reading my texts!_"

"Fine! I'm just saying that maybe we should spend this time together, and not messaging girlfriends."

"She is _not _my-"

Now it was Maria's turn to laugh. These two boys came from a world completely different from her own – there was no denying that. But she was finally beginning to realize that that didn't make them any less human. Maybe they would all get along after all…

* * *

_A/N: So, if anyone actually still reads this (which I doubt)… sorry for the hiatus, I guess? I plan to post a little more regularly and see this story through to the end. Next chapter will be up next week_


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